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tv   U.S. House of Representatives  CSPAN  October 5, 2012 9:00am-2:00pm EDT

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is a terrific one to achieve and try to revive that one as you talk to c-span and agitate your committee. host: let's go back to the >> how is mitt romney going to be able to win independent voters after he alienated them in the primary? guest: i think that debate over night, which you watched as a politicalf th science and journalism -- he pivoted to some of the positions that he explicitly set aside during the primaries, where he became truly one of the most -- there were others, rick santorum
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and newt gingrich -- extremist candidates on key issues that appeal to independents. when a pos -- one of the most interesting things in this election is the growing gender gap. you are too young, but many in 1992 called it the year of the woman, because of the showdown between anita hill and at then- being-confirmed justice clarence thomas. where were the women's voices? you had that sense when georgetown student center fluk -- sandra fluke was called to testify on contraception and it was an all-metal panel. -- all-male panel. would you imagine that in the 21st century that contraception would be raised as a polarizing issue, huerta taken -- where
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todd akin is talking about legitimate rate. that has led to the fact that independent women are alienated by these extremists. we're not talking about abortion, which i think is a right and should be in this country. we're talking about women's health issues, calls to defund planned parenthood, to fight over contraception. these are linked to women's economic security. in that context, your question is right, that independent women influencing states have been pushed away. in virginia, a key swing state, president obama a week ago was leading by 19%. in ohio he is leading by women by considerable numbers. it is that constituency which is so critical. did you hear the woman, the word "woman" used at all during the
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debate last night? that was a measure not only of president obama's this engagement, but mitt romney not wanting to bring in up, and jim lehrer, i don't know what was going on. . host: laura is a republican. hi, laura, you are on. caller: i wanted to say to katrina, if you want to talk about common sense policies, maybe you need to listen to rush limbaugh and maybe you need to really listen to what mr. romney said about this economy. if you are concerned about poverty, do you know that the number one group tracked in poverty is single thing all households -- single female soul? you need to look at stuff that the conservatives are saying because they care about the portrait they don't want people
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trapped in poverty. they know what small businesses, which employs 60-70% of the citizens and in this country, taxed more. if you tax small business, they are not going to hire. i don't know how you don't figure out what mr. romney so eloquently said in that debate. talking about politics of the 1% or the 47%, conservatives want the best for all folks, and yes, we mean thewe don't want them trapped in poverty. we want them married, paying their taxes -- host: we will get katrina vanden heuvel's response. guest: yeah. listen, if marriage will promote the well-being of the couple, children, great. but in my mind, it is and not
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just that. that is too simplistic. it is part of the equation. without good jobs, without ensuring that workers have rights and a time -- at the time when big business is so powerful, without doing small things that happened around this country but have taken too much effort, giving women, families early child care, the sense of a community coming together to lift up families, marriages not sufficient. to reduce it to that is too simplistic. no one is saying marriage isn't important. it is not the only a factor in building a family that is doing well. the fact that jobs to date are low-paying is a terrible problem, and i would link this to the poverty issue.
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we have a terrific weekly feature at thenation.com called "this week in poverty," were you read about the lives of people who are struggling. some of them are being paid below minimum wage. i believe the minimum wage, if you do it to inflation -- the idea of a living wage. the fact that you have children growing up in poverty has a lot to do with the fact that this country is not producing well paying jobs right now. to me, that requires common sense initiatives, creativity, and all of us working together to understand why tax cuts are not going to do it. when was the last time a tax cut bill to abridge or created a job? it can help but it is is not sufficient.
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the big businesses in the country, corporate powers, are sitting on $2 trillion in cash reserves. the argument many of them use ithat it is at time of uncertainty and they don't know what to do is the last refuge of scoundrels. they should be patriotic and creating jobs to lift everyone out. there is this view that if you speak about corporate power, the 1% -- we would be a country of 100%, but we are not there yet -- you are "anti-business." i'm not anti-business, but i think that business has become untethered from communities, from a sense of commitment to people in communities. it's only commitment is to more and more profit and to shareholders. there are different ways of
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doing business. rick perry and gingrich spoke quite well in the primaries about vaulter capitalism. -- vulture capitalism. there are different kinds of capitalism. it is simply the allocation of capital. it should invest in workers and communities and in building up families. host: amanda is a political science and journalism major and a senior at miami university. thanks for waiting. you are on now. >> good morning. many political pundits and analysts have claimed that romney has been very vague and avoided talking about specifics. if you agree, why to you agree that he has avoided telling the nation is true plans? guest: thank you for that
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question. no, i think there has been a kind of duck and cover in the way that president romney -- i'm sorry, candidate romney -- has campaign. people learned about th -- if people learn about the full nature of the tax plan, and they would, one, not supported, or actually it recoiled. 60-7% of americans support medicare, support social security, what does that mean? having the richest in this country pay their fair share. i think there is an awareness that, for example, the ryan budget, is not popular with the voters and the american people. there's a lot of smoothing and a duck and cover in order to sell something other than what is actually on the table. host: thanks very much.
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let's take a call from loretta. she is watching us in cleveland, a democrat there. caller: good morning, ladies. katrina, i agree with you. we remember the box of rocks that bush left obama when he came into office. i am shocked by how the media has given the republicans a pass, because when bush came into office, clinton left him a $5.60 trillion surplus. bush gave it away to his billionaire buddy spirit that was 2001. i -- david which was billionaire bodies. that was 2001. in 2003, bush gave republican job creators $3.50 trillion for jobs, but we got 99 despite 2008. that is a whole year. president obama was then-senator
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obama -- guest: your command of the numbers is terrific. the question about the media. honest --ed, let's be you have to have a strong voices inside the democratic party and a strong voices outside in the movements of our time an independent media to call the mainstream media, and we can discuss what mainstream media means, but there is a mainstream establishment media which has as its working premise the idea of the cult of balance, something our media columnist, eric alterman, has written and what about i-- has written a lot about. if someone went on to the floor of congress and said the earth is flat, the media would write about both sides as if both were true.
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i mentioned norm ornstein earlier. he is no liberal progressive. he is sort of right of center, he is at the american enterprise institute. thomas mann at brookings road book that had a large section about the failures of the media to call out untruths. we have a lot more fact checking in the media, which has its ups and downs. at the debate last night, the bank act it obama on the $5 trillion deficit -- they fact- checked obama on the $5 trillion deficit, which was truly the romney mendacity -- on romney's front, i forget what they were fact checking but it was much more serious. you need a voices inside and outside the democratic party,
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citizens of conscience, to call out when they hear the media not getting to the bottom of the issue. our media, let's be honest, has treated the campaign as a horse race. look at the debate. as i mentioned earlier, it was treated more like a theater performance than actually grappling with the substance. president obama, if you look of the coverage, i'm sure 92% of it had more to do without disengage he was then the actual substance -- with how to disengage he was then the actual substance. that is not helping for a country that prides itself on being a democracy with engaged and knowledgeable citizens. host: we are almost out of time. i will try to get two students in. guest: i will be brief. host: bolivia is a political science major.
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>> my question has to do with the rhetoric involving "the war on women" and the recent article he wrote. is it fair to classify women as one voting bloc and that we all like the same things? guest: no, i don't think any group in our society is a monolithic bloc. but i do think we have seen a concerted assault on women's rights, and i am not just talking about reproductive rights, but on economic rights. if you think about, for example, candidate romney's attacks on president obama and how he contributed to women's job losses, many of those losses came about under bush and then continued and reduced under president obama. the term that has been demonized by governors like gov. scott walker of wisconsin, gov.
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kasich of ohio -- the teache rs, nurses, women working in the public sector have lost their jobs due to the failure of, for the federal government to give money to the states in this time of crisis, which president obama supported. but you know, i think you'd see independent women, as i said before, a growing block of women, not just progressives are democrats, democratic women, could you worry about the fact that their daughter, for example, might not have access to planned parenthood, which, by the way, is really about women's health, mammograms, and not just these hot-button issues of reproductive choice. so i do think the independent women voters are the canary in the coal mined in terms of the seeing a republican party that is not hospitable or open to women's health rights, and
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linked to that in order to control your economic destiny you need to control your health. host: michael is a political science major. >> i will begin with the article that ran on "the nation" frontpage. why have appointments gone by the wayside in this election? guest: president obama has faced obstruction but has not been as engaged with putting forward judges. by the way, the supreme court today may be years 2% of cases in this country. the dog is growing smaller and smaller, shrinking, -- the smaller andgrowing
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smaller, shrinking, and there is an impact of president obama not pushing as many throughout as bush did. the courts are so important, and they should be discussed in this campaign. i hope in this next debate -- it is important that this has gone under the radar. the presidents are not individual -- not just individuals. they come with advisers. president reagan's nominee robert bork was rejected by the senate for being way out of the mainstream in this country. he did not believe the equal protection clause applies to women. he is opposed to the voting rights act and the silver rights act of 1964. and he believed that corporations are people. he would play a very destructive role in a court of common sense, fairness, justice, diversity of equality and opportunity. those are not left-right issues.
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i think we need to take a hard look at the courts and the political intensity gap, where the right does understand the court and its powers but the progressive, liberal democratic community has stepped back and not engage with that judicial process or the courts as effectively as they could. host: there are four students on the bus who did not have an opportunity to ask a question today. would you mind if they direct tweet you a question to respond to them? guest: with pleasure an apology for my like the answers. -- lengthy answers. @katrinanation. host: thank you so much, again,
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to time warner and for the professor for organizing the bus for talking to katrina vanden heuvel. thanks as always. guest: and may those students go to thenation.co and learn about our internships program. yes traffic. -- it is terrific. the head of the liberal party in the u.k., nicholas clegg, is a former intern. host: we will be looking at jobs numbers and specifically the manufacturing sector in "america by the numbers." eric morath from "the wall street journal" and chris savage from the census bureau. we will be right back.
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>> this is the first parish church in brunswick, maine, and it is significant to the story capt.cle -- "uncle tom's cabin." it is where harriet beecher stowe saw her vision of uncle tom being beaten to death. was written cabin" very much as a protest novel to
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the fugitive a state law or anyone in the north, including new england, with the abolitionists and -- if anyone in the northwest to aid or abet a fugitive slave, they themselves would be imprisoned or fine for breaking the law. this was seen as a compromise between the north and south to avoid war. that was part of what the novel was trying to do, to say, listen, i am a person, harriet beecher stowe, and i'm against slavery, as was much of new england, and i just my right to call a slave who finds him or herself -- t.s. my right to help the slave who finds him or herself within our borders. >> more about it. beecher stowe this weekend as -- or about. beecher stowe this weekend as we look behind the history and
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literary history of augusta, maine. sunday at 5:00 p.m. on american history tv on c-span3. >> almost 20 years ago, we broadcast one of the most controversial stories in our 44 years on the air. it was called "yes, but is it art?" at was accused of being a philistines, someone without the ability to appreciate contemporary art. works i question the that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars are now worth hundreds of millions. >> what made everybody so mad years ago? >> i had discovered something that i could absolutely barely believe, that when you question someone's taste in art, it is
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more personal, more probing than politics, religion, sexual preference. there is something that goes to the very soul when you say "you bought that?" >> morley safer of cbs on walter cronkite and journalism today. "washington journal" continues. host: we are back with our "america by the numbers" segment. the overall unemployment rate has dropped percentage -- 7.8%. if you look to those sectors, manufacturing is what we're focusing on -- is not doing as robustly as other sectors.
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manufacturing employment edged down 16,000 jobs on net. the jobs in computer and electronic parts and printing and related activities. we will listen to the candidates and come back oand talk about their proposals for the manufacturing sector. let's start with president obama. [video clip] >> what i talked about last night was eight new economic patriotism, and patriotism that is rooted in the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong, thriving middle-class. that means we export more jobs -- export more products and we outsource fewer jobs. over the last three years, we came together to reinvent a dying auto industry that is on top of the world. [applause] we have created more than half a
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million new manufacturing jobs. we can keep giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, or we can start rewarding companies that open new plants and train new workers and create new jobs in the united states of america. that is what we're looking for. we can help big factories and small businesses double their exports and create 1 million new manufacturing jobs over the next four years. you can make that happen. let me tell you how i will create 12 million new jobs. my energy independence policy means 3 million new jobs. my tax reform plan to lower rates for the middle class and small business creates 7 million more. expanding trade, cracking down on china, and improving job training takes us to over 12 million new jobs. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. that is the candidates and their
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plan for creating jobs, particularly in manufacturing. eric morath is an economy reporter for "the wall street journal." chris savage is back of the table -- nice to see you, mr. savage. how much leverage does the president have in creating jobs in the manufacturing sector? guest: it is difficult for them to directly see these numbers go up and down. we have seen the obama administration tried to do that the last four years and we have seen ideas from the ronny administration. romney administration. host: how large a role this manufacturing plant in the u.s.? -- does manufacturing play in the u.s.? guest: a lot of people feel like it is is dying industry in
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america, but take a look at the numbers. the u.s. still the world's largest manufacturer. manufacturing comprises 11.7% of gross domestic product. manufacturing comprises 9% of total u.s. employment. and it is directly employing 10.9 million workers in the u.s. host: we are going to get into the numbers and look at how things like 9% total employment have changed at the last couple of decades. mr. morath, let me ask about the kinds of manufacturing done. surely that has changed the last couple of decades. guest: we have a fairly robust automotive industry, but there are a number of different areas where things have changed and could change further, such as increasing energy production --
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oil, gas, refining. host: this chart is from the bureau of labor statistics, a sister agency, but they look at by presidential administrations manufacturing job growth. you can see that there was a sharp decline from to the and 1 from 2001 to 2009, and it is beginning to pick up a bit. guest: job growth is definitely picking up. if you look at the overall growth in the manufacturing sector, we have had fairly strong growth numbers up until the last couple of months. the growth has been very, very strong. i have some other slights to address that. host: mr. morath, what precipitated the large drop in manufacturing since 2000? guest: the traditional
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manufacturing, the auto industry, the related parts -- use of the number of vehicles produced in this country drop, especially into the financial crisis, and that led to a lot of layoffs. host: i have two slides that looked at the regions of the united states. the number of states with the most manufacturing employers, and other is manufacturing employees. the camera is now on manufacturing employees by state. what are the significant states would manufacturing employees? guest: the top 25 are in the dark green. most importantly, we take a look at the top five states, which are the traditional -- let's call it the rust belt around the great lakes region.
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ohio is the number one state as far as having manufacturing be one of the top three manufacturing sectors. host: is it then not surprising that the presidential candidates are going to ohio to talk about jobs? guest: is a battleground state. host: can you talk about why is such concentration in the rust belt states? guest: i know from talking to eric -- he is from that region as well -- that is where a lot of the iron and steel mills are located as well. guest: it is at the center of the country, so you can serve markets on both coasts relatively easy from that region. host: we are looking at charts
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and talking to you and answering questions from our callers. hi, cindy. we're talking about manufacturing jobs. good morning. caller: back when clinton was in office, and they passed nafta, and that was when republicans controlled the house. i don't know why they don't just tell us that a lot of our jobs are going overseas because -- even in oklahoma, the levi, they make jeans, that went overseas. they just go on to tell the american people that there are no jobs here because there are all moving. -- they just don't want to tell the american people that there are no jobs because they are all moving. host: thanks. guest: the shifting of manufacturing to other countries with lower-cost labor. jeans here -- will be
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more expensive when you go to target to buy those genes. -- jeans. host: how do you categorize the different types of manufacturing and track them? guest: we basically use the north american classification system, product of the nafta agreements. manufacturing to not change too much when we si -- not changed much when we switched the classification area. transportation equipment makes up about 25% of manufacturing, everything from automobiles to aircraft. machinery, which has been released on area for manufacturing -- a really stron area for manufacturing of late, is 7% of manufacturing, total manufacturing. construction machinery, farm
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machinery, those types of things. food products has also been a growth industry. it is up 13%. examples there would be grain milling, meat, poultry, and seafood production. and as eric mentioned, the petroleum and coal area -- examples would be petroleum refineries and asphalt plants -- and that would be 14%. host: there have been discussions of clean coal. how will that affect manufacturing? guest: if there was an increase, whether it was coal or natural gas, and you use that for more of our energy resources, you probably won't see, started with machinery and equipment -- it would potentially help with
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manufacturing jobs. host: pete, what is your question? caller: hello? host: yes, sir, you are on. caller: during president obama's speech, he made a huge 40 and sli -- freudian slip -- [indiscernible] more jobs. host: the president misspoke in that clip. guest: he has delivered on exports so far. exports were at record levels. the challenge will be to continue that, because europe is in recession and china's slowing down and it will be harder to sell u.s. products overseas if the rest of the world is not growing as fast as it was a ago.e years host: value of shipments of
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manufacturing industries from 1996 to august 2012. what are we looking at? guest: this is based on the most recent data that was released yesterday. here you see we are at $476.9 billion in total manufacturing, and introducing a couple other concepts here. we have a phased release, an advance report just on the durable-goods. and five to seven days later, we do a report as the non- durables versus any revision to the advent -- advance. things that have a life span of three years or more. host: this shaded area is the
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economic downturn beginning in 2008. what has given rise to the increase in number of shipments in durable goods and manufacturing? guest: with durable goods we have pent-up demand. people were holding off on the refrigerator and a corporate now they feel a little bit better about the economy and on some of those things they cannot wait any longer. that has helped a bit. we have seen in recent months a bit of a slip in durable-goods and consumer products, led a goods carrying the overall increase. host: we heard about the president's goal to send more exports out of the country. freudian slip40 an
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the caller talked about. guest: exports are up to basically $1.30 trillion. they have been up sharply since the recession. one other thing i think is quite interesting is you see the total manufacturing as a whole took a steep drop during the recession. exports have helped to buoy the united states. if you diversify your markets and are not funds trading at one marketplace, you can definitely improve productivity. but as eric stated, one of the issues is what is happening with europe and china right now. host: this is a question about energy costs. how does the cost of energy affect total output? guest: it is one of the factors,
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and depending on the type of industry, some of them are energy-intensive. it certainly adds to their costs, and that can get passed on to the consumers. if it costs more for a car or refrigerator, maybe you are less likely to buy that. host: are you able to talk about the broad categories of contributions to manufacturing? obviously, there is cost of capital. we talked about the cost of energy. what are the major areas that affect manufacturing? guest: cost of labor, of course. another one is transportation costs. when you look at the major areas of manufacturing in the united states, you talking about heavy things -- cars, planes, heavy machinery. that is a quarter of our manufacturing. it is hard to ship a giant machine to china than it is jeans, for example. that is another cost, how much
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does it cost to transport something from the factory to the consumer. host: we have a chart that lists payroll.us sectors' tell us about this. guest: again, just one of the misnomers about manufacturing -- a lot of people believe the jobs are fairly low paying jobs. you actually see that manufacturing is in the top 8 as far as average annual payroll for employees. it is to be thousan -- 50,667, a pretty robust celery to consider our current state of the economy. -- salary if you consider our current state of the economy. manufacturing jobs have changed over time. it is not the same situation where you have a lot of manual
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labor going on in the plant. there are in -- they are looking for skilled employees to come in with backgrounds in engineering and what not to work robots on the line. that is part of the buoying of salaries. host: on job training programs, there have been several infusions of dollars into those. mitt romney this week, specific example, said programs with money going into different places -- he would propose that they go more directly to workers. how effectively has the magic happened between training programs in available jobs? -- match happened between training programs and available jobs? guest: you are talking about manufacturing 20 or 30 years ago, they're not likely to have that engineering or computer background.
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it will be a harder step for them to get the necessary training than someone who recently completed some college. you are going to need technical skills to get a job in manufacturing. they are more likely to be a computer programmer than a wrench turner. host: this shows how many jobs there are in manufacturing compared to other sectors. guest: it does well, at 10.9 million people. i know the recent report this morning released by the bureau of labor statistics showed some weakness in the manufacturing sector. this is an old data that we produce. -- annual data that we produce pig is still a major contender host -- it is still a major
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contender? host: what is the size of the workforce? guest: i don't have that number. guest: total work force? it is a bls number. host: melvin is watching in fort lauderdale. caller: a statement, i guess. manufacturing decline from 2001 to 2009 -- that is basically romney's whole proposal of building jobs in manufacturing, because with two wars and a tax cut to the rich, that is definitely an negative factor with respect to how he is talking about building jobs. going back to the reagan administration, that is basically how he increased the
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jobs when he doubled the size of the military and everything else when he got into office to increase the overall work force in manufacturing. he did it through building up the military, and that is how they got the majority of people back to work. this stuff with romney talking about increasing taxes -- there is no way in the world is policy can work. host: this is the chart the caller was referring to. guest: as far as romney et's plan, he is proposing to keep military spending and a higher rate, so that would sort of address what the caller is looking for. new jets, ships, new types of things. and he is right, at several times that has been a big boost for employment.
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also like to expand at more non- traditional -- and to expand more non-traditional manufacturing areas. become energy independent, would need to expand drilling, and things like the keystone pipeline coming into place. that would be a lot of manufacturing jobs if a large project like that about. -- like that came about. host: thank goodness for the ipad. [laughter] sherri, you are on. go ahead, please. caller: one of the other young ladies had a call from oklahoma talking about the companies that are moving overseas, and the
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fact that a lot of our leaders are not explaining what really is going on. the truth of the matter is that in most of these countries, they cannot afford to buy the goods. they are producing goods for the american consumer. they don't spend $100 for a pair of levis. i have been selling on line for 10 years, and in a lot of these countries, and they like the american culture, they like the have thet they don't money, they don't make the money. we make $50,000 to $100,000 a year. they make $2,000 a year.
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it is just a push for these corporations to relocate in these other countries so they can maximize their profits. very similar to the pharmaceutical industry. host: thank you so much. our time is short. eric morath. guest: it is a true, in many other countries they cannot afford to buy $100 for a pair of jeans. but in china, we have a rapidly advancing economy. i visited shanghai and beijing, and they have apple stores and levi shops now, and sure, a small percentage can afford it, but a growing percentage. they are growing manufacturing in other areas of their economy, just like we did 100 years ago. host: how do we square the
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factory orders number with what we're seeing in manufacturing jobs? guest: it is a month to month number. it had been a leader in both early in this recovery, and now we are seeing it slow down. that number should note that a big fluctuation in airplane orders last month contributed to it. it was mild growth, but was growth. host: the candidates talk about the importance of detroit and automobile manufacturing to growth. what are we looking at with this chart from 1996 to 2012? guest: motor vehicles have pulled up strongly from the recession did you look at the shipments line, which is in blue -- you see that it actually exceeded pre-recessionary levels by 10%.
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that is definitely a plus side for employment and the economy overall. host: exports are up. guest: exports are also up. this is thrown in there to let people know that we actually export automobiles. there are a lot of imports in the united states, but few people recognize that there is an export market as well. host: do you happen to know what region of the world is the largest share of american automobiles, where they are most popular? guest: i would assume it is europe but i'm not positive on that. our export market is sort of the luxury vehicles, different from what you would think, like a bmw, but a jeep in china -- guest: a buick is considered a
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luxury item. guest: a few hundred a month could be sold around to will. -- around the world. host: our numbers are divided geographically, as they always are with "america by the numbers." let's hear from sue. caller: good morning. thank you very much for taking my call. i first want to say that my father did on a steel mill in cleveland, ohio. he sold a production plant to monterey, mexico in 1970. i was young at the time, he was probably 45 years old, worked hard all his life, and i remember his face when that production plant went to moderate. we moved to houston to be closer administratively. but now i am in florida and i am concerned about some of the comments i heard about atlantic feeling.
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i grew up -- atlantic drilling. i grew up on the gulf coast trip it was oil, oil, oil. i remember two huge refinery explosions. you are swimming in oil-laced water and the sand it was solid tar. in florida we don't manufacture anything. our economy is tourism. from late september to april, that is our economy. we could be, with some government funding, the solar capital of the country. i have lived through hurricanes, losing my power for weeks at a time, because the infrastructure is so poor.
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not a lot of people can afford solar, but if you drive from east to west coast, every light pole is solar power. if we could start a manufacturing here, we could bring costs down and people would invest in that. host: investment in solar energy has been a hot button in the political campaign. guest: absolutely, exemplified by a company called the solyndra. they received a loan and then filed for bankruptcy, which is not unusual when you talk about new developing technologies. it is a challenge for solar, particularly because i.t. is very expensive, if you don't have the government grants and support like they have in europe to encourage people to put those on their homes, you will not get the volume necessary to bring down the costs and make the tens of thousands of dollars of investment -- takes a long time
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to pay that off and will be hard for our consumer business to do that. host: these are the some sectors of manufacturing. first is new orders of machinery. what kinds of machinery are talking about? -- are we talking about? guest: anything from bulldozers to machines that make the semiconductors. it is a wide range of machinery. it is a big part of the classification manual for products. things like materials handling equipment, conveyors, stacking machinery, those types of things. host: when we look at this, it is getting to recession levels? guest: it has exceeded pre recessionary levels. back in june, aided $33.3 billion. as we discussed earlier, things
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are dipping a little bit in the last couple of months, and it is at $33 billion right now. here also we see the blue line is shipments, and we have the new orders included in there. they both are rebounding very strongly from the recession. the new orders data is also -- has exceeded pre-recessionary levels. host: but with more volatility. guest: more volatility. the shipments at the very end are beginning to exceed the new orders, so that could be a potential indication of future slowdowns. we don't predict, but that is part of what it tells us. guest: one of the things i would say, predict, that the future slowdown -- we are seeing some concern over the fiscal cliff.
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you talk about bulldozers, construction. if you don't know when federal spending is going to come in, it is hard to think about investing in a row or highway. guest: well, if it went into place as it is planned now, it would have a pretty significant impact. it would push us all the way into a recession, if not extremely low growth. he thought would be that at least in the next six months, congress will address and minimize the impact. host: the next chart. guest: this is designed to show you the impact that one industry can have on another industry. if you take a look at the red line on transportation equipment, you see that recession hit that very, very strongly. the suppliers in the supply chain -- primary metals would be
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one of them that produced -- aluminum, steel, what not that go into planes, trains, and automobiles, basically -- you see a mirror of the decline. actually, it is mirroring the growth as well as it pulls out of the recession. host: call next. hi, doris. caller: thank you for taking my call. i don't understand how we can possibly get jobs -- oh, i'm sorry -- hello? host: we're listening, doris. caller: i don't understand how we could possibly get jobs when we are totally in that and competing in the marketplace. our prices are too high, our wages are too high. why would anybody buy something from us? i don't buy drugs here, because
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i can get them for 1/3 less from canada. i have done it for 25 years. host: thank you. we will ask eric morath how competitive the united states is. guest: the u.s. is a net importer of goods. but we are a big exporter of services. some of our knowledge, peace like in financial -- our knowledge, expertise, like in financial areas. there are some products shipped around the world that are manufactured in the united states. host: food products, petroleum, and coal products. chemical -- what is the orange line? petroleum -- that took i hit during the recession. guest: expect at the beginning
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and then dropped off significantly. -- it spikes at the beginning and then drop off significantly. this shows the impact of two other industries. chemicals are closely aligned with petroleum and coal products. it also significantly dropped. a lot of petrochemicals are in chemical products, such as your paints, varnishes, things like that. if you look at food products, obviously, petroleum and coal are not in that. what is causing that? transportation costs. transportation costs had bumped up, and it does not have as big of a movement, but you can see the impact of robbe -- impact overall. host: have we been able to measure the impact of the drought on shipments? guest: it is starting to show up
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in some of our beef and poultry numbers. products arend starting to be affected. those will really show up more next year. what is happening is you see that herds are being cut back, because the cost of feeding cattle and pork are at all-time highs. we're seeing the impact on our data. host: bob, welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you very much. i happen to be one of those snow angels that the other lady -- host: is very happy about. [laughter] caller: i lived through the depression, so you can imagine how all i am. i wanted to comment on this recession that we're going
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through. it started 60 years ago when a new england lost its leather industry. that is a terrible blow to this country, we hope it doesn't continue. then 40 years ago, it lost its apparel industry trade in large plant -- i met a gentleman who worked for a plant in south america, and i asked him what he did, and he took care of all the machinery. "we have 12 plants in south america --" host: i have to jump in, because we are just about out of time. exporting jobs in the earlier part of the 20th-century -- what was behind that? there was not a nafta agreement. guest: but it still had to do with the changing global economy.
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for the u.s., it made more sense, purely economically, to buy it cheaper from a lower- cost country. look at what happened in the uk. they were leaders in research and medicine. host: this is capacity utilization. guest: this shows the utilization rates of manufacturing plants basically, this is 75%, if you look at 2008, 75% of the plants were operating at 100% capacity. as the recession hit, they dropped significantly. you see us pulling up, but we are not quite out of that. there are still idle plants not
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meeting capacity. i should also point out, this is an example of the kind of variety of data products we produce. we have seen the product level, but here is the capacity. host: we do not have much time to talk about it, but manufacturers are finding that they can do without fewer workers because they are retooling their plants. >> there is more technology in the plans to make the production of more efficient and productive. host: that is all for today. chris savage, thank you for coming to look at the manufacturing numbers. we will be hearing more about this from the candidates, so it has been good to have some background. now to today's session of the house of representatives. it is a pro forma session.
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that all might know and experience your blessings. send your spirit of peace upon our world that people of good will might prevail upon their neighbors the benefits of working out differences and living in peace. the members of this people's house are now engaged in political races. grant them good judgment, honest engagement and a spirit of fairness. it is entrust in the participants of our citizens in the electoral process. please give us all an extra measure of knowledge, wisdom and understanding in the month to come. bless us this day and every day and may that is done be for your honor and glory. amen. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3-a of the house resolution 788, the
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journal of the last day's proceedings is approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from maryland, mr. cummings. mr. cummings: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3-b of house resolution 788, the house stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m. on tuesday, october 9, 2012. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, parliamentary inquiry. >> the house gambling in and out for a brief for forma session, another pro forma session coming up on tuesday. you saw elijah cummings of maryland time to get the speaker
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pro tem's attention and the session gaveled out. a reminder, the cameras in the house are controlled by the house, and not c-span. last week, democrats remained on the floor to call republicans back to finish up work in the house. if you want to follow some of the action that may continue on the house floor, we recommend twitter.com/cspan, as we have some producers among other reporters looking at what is happening. the september job numbers came out this morning and the unemployment rate fell to 7.8% last month, dropping below 8% for the first time in nearly four years. the labor department says 114,000 jobs were added in september. the economy also created more jobs in july and august than a first estimated.
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september's jobless rate for people over 25 with bachelor's degrees is 4.1%. high school grads, 8.1%. less than high school diploma, less than 3%. we expect to hear more from the presidential candidates today. coverage of the presidential campaign begins today at 10:50 a.m. just outside of the nation's capital at george mason university in fairfax, virginia. then at 11:40 a.m., mitt romney is also in southwestern virginia, and abingdon. we will have that for you here on c-span. on c-span2, the american enterprise institute looking at whether google is violating antitrust laws, a question currently being investigated by the federal trade commission. >> we need to tackle our nation's challenges before they tackle us.
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we need to strengthen medicare and social security, and we are putting ideas on the table to do that. we're going to save these benefits for seniors. and for my generation, so that these promises are kept. they have laid out clearly that what barack obama and joe biden did is they endangered medicare, they stole money from medicare, they give it to obamacare. you see the ads. nothing could be further from the truth. >> congressman paul ryan and vice-president joe biden will face off in their only debate. abc news moderates from danville, ky. you can watch and engage with c- span with our live debate preview starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern, all by the debate at 9:00 p.m. and then your calls and reactions at 10:30 p.m.
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>> our road to the white house picking up again this morning. president obama is at george mason university. we will have that live when it begins and take your phone call reactions. until then, the conversation about the presidential race from this morning's "washington journal." host: a syndicated columnist and has a new book out. this morning. this is number what? no. 9. host: it is called "mugged: racial demagoguery from the seventies to obama." are going to talk about that. where do you think the presidential race is right now. guest: mitt romney is looking very good peer that is why in the obama administration did not want to run against mitt romney. he was the most threatening of the candidates. it is very hard to take on an
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incumbent. it has only happened -- republicans have only done at one time in the last few years. is in the last time it happened when clinton took out bush? it is curious, for example, there were 70 million viewers of that debate the other night, the highest it has been since 1992, the last time an incumbent was taken out. that is because people are uncomfortable with obama, but if they are not political knocks, like we are, they have not been paying attention, or have not been watching the debates and the just want to see who the challenger is and whether they are comparable with him. after monday night, everybody is pretty comfortable with mitt romney. >> i was reading back on your twitter feed. back in february you were saying conservatives should support mitt romney. is that because of the field or because of his conservative
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credentials? i was reading>> i was totally s christie, and that was to the new years ago, but in my defense, people thought that he was -- and several congressmen would run. because it is so hard to be an incumbent president, i still love chris christie, and hopi runs one day -- he was so brave in the way he took on public- sector unions, with no republican had done before, and everybody loved it. he was so articulate and bright and had become the star. for one thing, chris christie made it very clear he was not running. hei supported romney in 2008 ani changed my mind about being able to be obama, though i do not think anyone could've done it, and mitt romney is not only the best candidate to run against obama, because in the past has forced his opponents to default.
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he did so when he ran for the illinois legislature, 1st the forced his democratic performance in the primary. a securities trader dug up some divorce records and suddenly, he falls to the bottom of the pack and obama wins the primary. then he was running against a spectacular republican in the general election from illinois. he is like the mitt romney of illinois. i think it would be an obama. once again, the obama campaign thinks of child custody records. he had been married to the cyborg from star trek voyager and she had made a custody file an allegation of him going to the six clubs appear not that they entered. she said no, but simply the allegation that he had phoned her to several cities and asked her to go to sex clubs.
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it was the certification -- first sex scandal involving a man asking a woman to have sex with him but demanding no for an answer. and the political acumen of someone like me, i should not be running for office either. anyways, obama has not faced a real opponent. we have a mormon who is a breakfast drink is a class of chocolate milk. he is clearly a decent man and honorable man, an honest man. this will be a tough not for the obama team to crack appeared once he becomes president, mitt romney is exactly what the country needs right now. host: what to expect the next couple of weeks will be like after the democrats soul- searching? >> i would say it is more than soul-searching. it is hysteria and screams of lies. i am promoting my book so i have not had a lot of time to cover
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all the lies they are screaming about. the one on mitt romney wanting to cut taxes on the rich by $5 trillion, let's just take that one. those are estimates made by a liberal tax group. by the way, they have taken an estimate back. the obama campaign was run ads on that, how rabbani want to cut the taxes out. as brown explained in the day clearly last night, no, not cutting taxes on the rich. but i want to do is lower rates over all by 20% and eliminate loopholes, deductions, exemptions, that sort of thing, which all serious people who look at the tax code think needs to be done. it is the richest of all the take the most advantage of tax deductions. that is a fairer way to look at it. you always feel like with reduction someone else is getting a better deal than you are. mitt romney has not specify with
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projections. i can think of you we should get rid of, like reductions for state and local taxes. why should the rest of the country be supporting the high tax rates of california and new york? he also explained in the debate, this is a general proposal. we will argue about it, talk about it. i will take to the democrats and we will work out. even the tax policy center that claims this would be a $5 trillion tax cut for the rich has said, and men and then we were not talking all the deduction that could've been taken. we were just guessing. this is an opinion, not about what the result will be. republicans have a different opinion about the result. host: i want to open up the phone lines and invited to the conversation this morning. you can also send us a we will -- -- tweet. we will also put up our e-mail address. the new jobs numbers are out, so
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we want to have a chance to look at those and get her reaction to the political import of those. we should spend a few minutes on your book before we get to the calls. what is your thesis, what are you try to do with it? >> white guilt has never done anything for america. it has driven the race is far apart. i go through some of the stores from the golden age of racial demagoguery in the '70s and '80s when every time a cop shot a black kid, that would be months of hysteria about the klan taking over the new york city police force and then slowly in the come out, the kid was minding the top. then it would disappear from the news pages. nooses that were put up by the peoples themselves. so 1 and so forth. the turning point, in my book, it is the o.j. verdict. i go through the rodney king
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case, which many people in l.a. know the truth about, but many others do not. tv stations edited the tape in order tothen it would disappear. the media is desperately looking for another until case, but we are not going to get one, now the democrats are not lynching blacks, no one is. white america, with the o.j. verdict said, the white guilt bank has set down, and it one bit -- became a wonderful thing for america and let people because there were no longer being patronized and coddled and treated like children. many great things can that. i have a chapter on the post- o.j. paradise. now with obama, not because he is half black, but because he is the most left-wing president we have seen, the media, the left has brought all the racial demagoguery back. i guess it has been long enough that people forget what a disaster is. obama does not engage in racial
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demagoguery quite as much as liberals in the media, but he puts it out there. he brings it up. he did ghetto with hillary clinn the primary and even with john mccain. this election, he cannot run on his record. it was full of claims of imaginary racism, so ultimately the point of the book is, do not fall for it again, america. host: one of the policy that cannot the 1970's is affirmative action. it will be reviewed again by the supreme court in another week and a half. what are your views about the effectiveness, or lack there of of affirmative-action? guest: my law firm brought the case against my alma mater. we won the law school case, we lost the and the grant case. at this point, -- there have been more recent studies about how it is a disaster for black people, but mostly it disaster
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for america, at this point. by not discriminate on the basis of race. is the way to do it. one of the things that conservatives have generally not like about richard nixon was and he was the first one to impose racial quotas, time lines on the construction industry that was doing business with the government. people of my generation and blogger up in a world without separate water fountains, without democrats like the boll connor or george wallace. in our lifetime,the president's lifetime -- the only affects of being black is it is an advantage. you are likely to get into a top law school. it has been used in a corrupt way as years went on.
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you read through 100 years of republicans pushing through legislation -- public accommodations legislation -- with the democrats constantly blocking, blocking, blocking. you become so frustrated. i think nixon was right. they were giving long enough to voluntarily integrate their work forces. if they refuse to hire black people, we will get results. i think he was right. host: left the response to a piece in "the new york times" this morning, author of a new book. he is a professor of sociology
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in princeton. he believes affirmative action is necessary and he writes -- guest: when you said it was from "the new york times," i could have told you i disagree. affirmative action has become a way for liberals to paper over
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the failure of the public schools. i don't think blacks are stupider than whites. the disaster of the public schools, it is a universal of nature that everything will become worse. everything sold on the private market will become better. verses the amtrak food service. our entire health care will be put in the hands of the federal government, the capable hands. host: one more thing from "the new york times." guest: i disagree. host: maybe you won't.
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guest: i did not write about bussing in my books. i write about someone that dies. busing is the perfect metaphor for liberals and race relations. liberals will move heaven and earth to make sure their kids go to white schools far away from the schools they are fiddling with other people's lives. it wasn't because liberals thought it was so important to
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send their children to school with people of different races. they were not doing that. to be busing kids for hours every morning to go to a different neighborhood when black or white, you want to go to school with people in your neighborhood. and long time op-ed writer for "the new york times" wrote obsessively about race and it comes out he was sending his kids to private school. really? the one chance you had. contrast that with a judge that was blocked by the democrats on civil rights grounds because he was not on abortion.
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it has nothing to do with black people anymore. who was i talking about? host: charles pickering. guest: he was a prosecutor prosecuting the klan. he was putting his life at jeopardy and sent his kids to public schools. not white liberals. host: this is missy in buffalo. good morning. caller: i think you're brilliant. you are my role model. i just wanted to say that and i can wait to read your book. i know your book covers the 1970's and 1980's. the one topic they bring up with republicans is slavery.
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the republicans had a huge role in ending slavery, they still use that as a talking point against our party. guest: and the apocryphal southern strategy. that is the most amazing rewrite in history. in my third book, a large part of that was telling the truth of joe mccarthy. that covered about five years. liberals have reread the history to cover 200 years. republicans or the party to talk about slavery. it was for the next 100 years with platforms endorsing justice marshall -- attorney
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thurgood marshall's victory in brown versus the board of education. and the troops to enforce the victory down in little rock. at that point, the democrats had to pretend to care about civil rights. the first civil rights legislation pushed by a democrat -- far more republicans voted for it. it was about 80% republicans.
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they had voted for every other civil-rights bill. they were liberal democrats. albert gore sr. all of these characters were ferocious opponents of joe mccarthy. robert byrd had 100% rating. do not believe the light they were conservative democrats. there was one of 18 liberal democratic segregationist who became a republican and that was strom thurmond. robert byrd had 100% rating. this line is pulled off by describing the entire south as if it was one state. republicans secretly appealed
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the democratic segregationist and suddenly we swept the south. republicans took the south when the dixiecrats died out. republicans had been winning the outer southern states since the 1920's. warren harding did pretty well. eisenhower twice. this was before 1964. reagan lost the dixiecrat states. reagan did best with college students, the people that were not born when strom thurmond was running. we want the south when the democrats died out.
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host: here's a question on twitter. guest: it is not about black people. it is a book about white liberals and how they lie. even when advances are made, they are back to demagogy white people and patronizing black people. host: ricardo, good morning. caller: how can you wear that cross around your neck after your abortion as a teenage girl? guest: what? do you have a call screener? host: there is a story about abortion in the paper and i thought i would bring it to the
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table. this is from "usa today" this morning. guest: well, i was not alive and in the argument back when the pill was being introduced. i do understand there were arguments mostly made by conservatives and christians with the wide availability of
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birth control and what have an increase in premarital sex which leads to venereal diseases and unwanted pregnancies. once you are 30 years down that road, the difference from 2008 to 2012 is really irrelevant. what the venereal disease rates back then verses now is staggering. "congratulations, i would like to go back to 3%." if i had an abortion, i should go back to being a christian. host: howard is next in alabama,
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good morning. caller: good morning. a pleasure to talk to you. are you there? host: we are listening. caller: i wanted to talk about leadership in the white house. i think it is terrible. obama is about the worst leader i've ever seen. i would rather have a leader that changes his mind occasionally that one that passes the buck at every turn. years ago, two colleges doing some research back in the late 1940's or 1950's, making decisions and i remember reading about this in miliry training manuals years ago.
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if you make decisions with to remind thinking things through, you would be right 75% of the time. making decisions with your heart, you'll be wrong 50% of the time. guest: i don't know about heart vs. head, but i agree about flip-flopping. mitt romney flip-flop on abortion. i am happy about that. he has not changed his position on anything else of any substance. i agree with obama that he is rigid and will not change his mind. the comparison is to bill clinton who had a democratic
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house and senate when he first came in. he tried to pass national health care and america responded by voting in a republican congress. that was the republican revolution of 1994 and we saw and about face with bill clinton. the american people will not approve of his policy and that is when bill clinton became a dlc democrats and signed pretty much everything that the congress sent to him. that is the congress the democrats are bragging about. obama has to go back to the clinton era. it was when the republican congress came in in january of
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1995 and past welfare reform and all sorts of new and fantastic criminal law provisions. there was a tax cut slipped in. that was the republican congress driving the bus. host: this is from twitter by aamom. guest: the idea that what people do not know about obama it is racist is a preposterous. where was all this love for blacks and high public positions when clarence thomas was nominated to the supreme court? how about 1 condoleezza rice was the first black female secretary of state?
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democrats do not like obama because he is black. they like him because he is left-wing. and his proposal to raise taxes -- they can call them racist. that's what democrats like about obama. they couldn't care less he is half black. caller: i have two questions. i wonder if there is a two- tiered justice system in this country. thousands and thousands of dollars while on the terrorist watch list. muslims get prosecuted for the same thing. i have another question. guest: that is not my interest.
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a're in the middle of presidential election. i just wrote this book. that is outside what i'm interested in. caller: do you think mitt romney will roll back the surveillance state? they are building a computer center in utah that is going to be directed at us. do you think romney will roll back the surveillance state? guest: we are against a fascist state at home because we want to be strong abroad. host: russell in south carolina. caller: good morning. it is always a pleasure to talk
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to the people at c-span. my comment with ann and the republicans -- it is amazing how she can just ignore the civil-rights movement and the voter rights bill. the voting rights bill actually changed the seven democrats in south carolina, mississippi, alabama, tennessee. a lot of states. 97% of the republicans in south carolina used to be democrats before black people got the right to vote. that is an amazing statistic that i didn't hear anybody talking about. everyone is talking about how we to turn everything to the state, almost without regard as to what the states have done in
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the history. she ignored that also in her book. the state has vagrancy laws. corporations have continued to enslave black people way past slavery. even douglas blackmun has written a book about that. host: have you read her book? caller: no. guest: the 1976 election. look at the dark area. that is the democrats for jimmy carter. it was the south he carried.
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host: a question from "the new republic." guest: so by voter suppression, he means not being able to walk up and vote without a photo i'd. i think he would be clear if the said, why do republicans need a voter i'd. to vote? if you put it that way, i think people would laugh.
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register state to state? it has nothing to do with black people and involves slandering black people. but they do not care because they start slopping the civil- rights label on gay marriage and abortion on demand and another cause the democrats believe in is voter fraud. they are famous for it. it appears the election of our franken in minnesota when his opponent and that the next day with about 500 more votes than out franken democrats kept finding more votes for al franken and he wound up winning by a few hundred votes.
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there have been more than 100 convictions for voter fraud. more than 1000 of the votes from that election are being investigated in democratic areas. democrats want to keep engaging in voter fraud. they love black people so much. black people are too stupid to get voter id. that's their argument. host: related to that, a question -- guest: yes. great point. this is not something i have written about but i read some of this. our servicemen in afghanistan
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are requesting their ballots and have not been able to get them. it is about 20% of the military vote compared to in past election. they are not being sent down. this is the united states military and they are not getting their ballots this year. host: next call from massachusetts. caller: i hope you do well with your book. barack obama was not the first black president to run. alan ran twice. number two, lincoln. lincoln freed the saves. margaret sanger started it planned parenthood.
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i hope the black people wake up. guest: yes, well, by and large, blacks are far more conservative and things like abortion. margaret sanger was the founder of planned parenthood. i would also say that black people are right -- i agree with their position. the devastating impacts of the black community over the absence of marriage in so many households -- blacks at a higher marriage rate than white people. this is not a legacy of slavery.
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there is nothing that has been as devastating to the family as the great society program. the vast majority of black people oppose gay marriage because this is another liberal attack of the institution of marriage. they have come at it with no- fault divorce laws and now they're coming out with the gays. host: we see ann coulter a lot on this network. she went to the university of michigan law school where she was an editor of the michigan law review. she was on the senate judiciary staff. private law practice in new york city. her latest book is called
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"mugged." host: we have a tweet. guest: that means telling the truth about a candidate. it is a term from a book. host: john from pennsylvania. caller: i wish c-span we do a series on the platforms of the republican party and the democrat party. i think it would clear a lot of stuff up. the republican party was the poet that stood up against polygamy and mormonism. the mormons had hundreds of
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christians as they went to california and landed on the native americans because they had -- brigham young had more than 50 wives and more than 12- year-old lives than warren jeffs had. concerning the amount of money that goes to the oil subsidies. guest: can we take one at a time? let's stick with the mormon bashing. that goes back to my earlier answer on gay marriage. this country almost fought a civil war against the mormons because of polygamy. people understand it the start understanding the definition of
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marriage than it means nothing. "the new york times" and others who have pushed gay marriage are leaping out -- and why should you have to be monogamous? let's redefine -- that's what marriage is. this has nothing to do with being anti woman, and the feminist was demanding no-fault divorce. it is deep in america's bones to oppose polygamy. it was blood in it that drove the market to drive the mormons out of the country. we are a target country when it
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comes to an unusual religion. host: this is following up with your definition about abortion rights. [laughter] guest: never understand why this is a hard concept to grasp. we want enough government so people are not killed in the womb. that doesn't mean we want the government to make this go through 18 hours of procedures to change the awning in front of the store. host: 114,000 jobs created in september and the unemployment rate going down, 7.8%. guest: yet it's still higher than the day obama took office.
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that excludes all the people that have given up looking for work. it is still higher than the day he took office. host: with the trend going down, how do you think it will play politically? guest: 23 million people are out of work. the country is suffering. maybe they do not know on capitol hill. people know that people are not working are working at far less jobs than they had a few years ago. we have to get the country going again. host: teresa in florida. caller: you just about talked out the clock.
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most of us heard what romney said on tape, 47% of americans being deadbeats. guest: he did not say that. he did not say "deadbeats." he said 47% do not pay income tax. there is your headline. caller: you brag governor romney was clever. when somebody lies so well -- guest: that was a joke. that is what we call in the right thing business a joke. host: we are out of time. where are you going on your book tour and what reaction do you get?
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guest: i travel a lot and give a lot of speeches. host: it all blends in. guest: i'm doing a book signing today on 12th street. i will be in los angeles for a few days doing it book signing in pomona. and a book signing in philadelphia on october 25. and a book signing in new york on november 1. i do not like to travel. host: this book is focusing on race. how our audience is reacting?
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guest: the entire mainstream media is pretending this book does not exist. i got more attention with my first book when i was working at a law firm. this is a more aggressive attack on the mainstream media then my second book was. i think they do not want people to read it. host: thank you for being here. the book is called "mugged." ann coulter has it web page and it twitter feed. thank you for being here. >> this is toward reece university in nearby fairfax, va., just outside the nation's capital. president obama is set to arrive shortly. his first campaign stop of the
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day. later on today he will be speaking at cleveland state university. we will have this live wanted starts. the president is likely to comment on the on plumbing figure, dropping to 7.8%, from 811%. we will also have coverage of mitt romney come in abingdon, va. while we wait for the president, we bring you a portion of this morning's "washington journal." one of the question of the debate, looking at the role of government. host: the store was part of peter bakker's coverage of the debate on the front page of yesterday's "the new york times." it is also the subject of a fairly new poll from the gallant group, majority in the u.s. say government is doing too much still.
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we wanted to turn to you to ask you the question, what the believe the role of the government should be in your life? let us listen to president obama as he answered the question in the debate this week. >> the first goal of the federal government is to keep the american people safe, that is its most basic function. as commander-in-chief, that is something that i have worked on and talk about every single day i have been in the oval office. but i also believe government has the capacity, the federal government, has the capacity to help open up opportunities and create ladders of opportunity and to create frameworks' where the american people can succeed. the genius of america is the free enterprise system. and freedom.
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the fact that people can go out there and start a business, work on an idea, make their own decisions, but, as abraham lincoln understood, there are also something that we do better together. in the middle of the civil war, abraham lincoln said, let us help to finance the transcontinental railroad. let us start the national academy of sciences. let us start land grant colleges, because we want to give these gateways of opportunities for all americans. because of all americans are getting opportunity, we will all be better off. that does not restrict people's freedom, that enhances it. so what i have tried to do as president is apply the same principles. host: that is president obama from the debates this week on the role of government. now let us listen to his challenger, mitt romney, for his answer on the question, and then we will begin to listen to you. >> first, life and liberty, we
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have a responsibility to protect the lives and liberty of our people, and that means in the military second to none. i do not believe in cutting our military. i believe in maintaining the strength of the military. second, in that line that says that we are endowed by our creator with our rights, i believe we must maintain our commitment to religious tolerance and freedom in this country. that statement also says that we are endowed by our creator with the right to pursue happiness as we choose. i interpret that as one making sure that those people who are less fortunate and cannot care for themselves are cared for by one another. we are a nation who believe we are all children of the same god and we care for those who have difficulties, those who are elderly, have challenges, disabled, we care for them. we look for discovery and innovations, all these things that are desired out of the american heart to provide the pursuit of happiness for our citizens. but we also believe in maintaining for individuals the right to pursue their dreams,
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and not to have the government substitute itself for the rights of free individuals. what we're seeing right now, in my view, is a trickle-down government approach which has government thinking it can do a better job in a free people pursuing their dreams, and it is not working. host: now we have heard from the president and the man and want to be president. let's begin with you. steven is on the phone from buffalo. a democrat. caller: basically, i feel the role of government is to protect our basic rights, and there is nothing more basic and clean air and clean water. this has been totally forgotten in the last years of debate. ecology is not even mentioned. this basically exemplifies modern man's complete dissociation and disconnection from the natural world to the point that nature distained reading is sustained. that is the basic difficulty. in fact, the attachment is so great, as even skewed perception
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of physical reality. you are constantly hearing the word growth and overbooking one simple fact. you cannot grow infinitely on a finite planet, fun and natural resources, especially water. all of these candidates are neglecting this. this is life itself, and it has nothing to do with the americans, or europeans, or india. it has to do with the human species. and our survival. i would like these candidates to address the one simple fact, what are you talking about when you consider energy more important and water? host: stephen, thank you. but to the role of government be in your life? we have posted on facebook. one viewer writes --
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next up is sharing, watching us from the morning. an independent. caller: i do agree with mitt romney. i think the government is getting way too big. that is my comment, thank you. host: les in detroit. a democrat. good morning. caller: we in michigan have to decide in november whether to allow the state to come in two cities, municipalities, to come in and take over, put in a financial manager or emergency manager, these cities with
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financial distress, come in and take over local government, where they can come in and remove the city officials, like the mayor, city council. i do not think that is what mitt romney had in mind when he wanted to say states have rights. what about the city's rights to elect their own elected officials? follow their own destiny? when you sit government interference, i understand that you were talking about the federal government. but i heard mitt romney say states' rights. is it the right of the state to come into the cities to overthrow the local municipalities? if that is big government, small government -- i do not know. is it controlled government? i think the citizens have a right to control their own
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destiny in their own city. this is on the ballot in november and i am telling everybody in michigan to vote it down. we do not need dictatorship. host: thank you so much. that is on at the role of government in relation to the city and the federal government. this comes from twitter -- >> debate news. more than 67 million people watched the first presidential debate of this election cycle. more than 50 million people watched the first presidential debate four years ago. about 12 million of the 67 million you watched president obama square off against mitt romney worked in the ages of 18 to 34. nearly 31 million or 55 years or older. fox news channel average from a 10.4 million viewers. a big improvement from four years ago. cnn, about 6.1 million viewers. still strong enough to be the
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msnbc average. this summer does not include the number of people who watched on the internet -- this number does not include the number of people watched on the internet or mobile devices. c-span is not included in the ratings. 67 million people watching on television. we're talking about the role of government. here is a call from hamilton, montana. good morning. an independent. caller: yes, i think government is here to help us to the intangible things we cannot do as individuals by ourselves. i just wanted to say that headlines down there in denver or romney wins, i thought that was very disingenuous of the press in denver. there was a report in the morning that romney light. that was disgraceful, what was
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going on in there during the day, -- during the debate, him lying like that. i want the people to know that the press was not there to do their job. they were there to sway opinion and i thought that was disgraceful for the denver press to do that. host: thank you so much. back to facebook -- the post from community builders, san bernardino -- host: if you like to post on facebook about the role of government, it is facebook.com and find the c-span side. next, a democrat. caller: good morning and thank you for the opportunity. first of all, a lot of these
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smart people out there in the c- span family stole my thunder on a lot of points. but i think, basically, we need a moderate-to-strong federal government. because, you know, i see these right wing nuts out there in the country crying about states' rights and that they want less federal government. you know, abraham lincoln ran into this problem before. we have seen this before where certain states broke away from the nation and started the civil war, for god's sake. either we have to face the fact that we're all americans and we have a moderate-to-strong federal government and the reason for that is because our government plays a very
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important roles around the world. it is not just in america, but the world looks to our country. the leadership. the only way we can have that, in my opinion, my humble opinion, is-to have is-to-strong federal government. thank you for the opportunity. host: thank you for being part of the discussion. next is a call from readers, pennsylvania. an independent. welcome to the discussion. caller: basically, several of the callers, i believe i am in line with their opinion. i believe that the role of our government is rooted in the constitution. from that, i believe that governments need to do what we, as individuals, can achieve on our own. i will point at nasa -- i mean, even businesses could not have taken us to the moon in 1969.
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so we have to continue to look at government and each and every problem that is presented to see -- is this funding that can be done by individual states and businesses or is this something that only the government can solve if we, the people, come together unified under that government and the government puts those resources to work? i often hear people complain about paying taxes or taxes are too high, but we appreciate having the roads. we appreciate having the postal service and the schools and the programs like nasa that have given us a wonderful technologies that have propelled us and made most people's lives much more comfortable than it would have been had those technologies not enter their lives. host: given what you say is the benefit of government, right now, is government about the right size?
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where would you put the scale on its role and influence on your life? caller: i think we have to be careful when we throw the word size out about government because there seems to be a misunderstanding about what the size of government is. people tend to think the number of federal employees is the size of the government, but the reality is that the problems dictate the size of the government. and if we say that we will shrink the government by reducing the number of federal employees, we actually will then end up contracting people to do those tasks anyway and we cannot count them as part of the government. but they are part of the government. we're just paying more for that resource now. people need to kind of recognize that when we take our resources, it is a finite amount. it truly is. we take that finite amount of resources, and we decide we're not going to pay a federal employee to do it, but we still
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have to fix the roads are we still have to repair or keep the schools. so we're going to contract somebody to do those roads. we will pay more to do that. so the size of government is really dictated by the problems we want solved, not by the number of employees we hire. host: thank you. this comes from a twitter -- host: more debate stories from "new york times." a harsh light on moderater jim lehrer. he writes that critiques came from several sides of the media spectrum, but the complaints seemed loudest from the left. more from mr. lehrer himself to put out a comet yesterday in response to the critique.
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here is the "washington post" this morning. he sent this e-mail that said -- host: one of the issues was, of course, the role of the government. that is what we're asking you to talk to us about this morning. next call is a republican from washington. caller: i think the role of government is to do the big things like national defense and build highways and education. and building an environment where it is easy for business to employ people and kind of stay out of everybody's way. host: how is it doing?
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caller: i do not think it is doing very well when minimum wage is hitting $10 an hour in some states. that is an awful lot to employ people. some people like myself, a small businessman, it is hard for me to employ more people when i am having to pay so much for everything in the price of everything is going up. the price of fuel, electricity, food -- the price of everything is going up right now. so i do not think the government is really doing a good job. host: it in the "wall street journal" this morning, another comparison of the two candidates on the definition of patriotism. president barack obama says he wants a new economic patriotism. mitt romney caused the campaign a battle for the soul of america.
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host: next, louisiana, a democrat. good morning. caller: yes, i would like the government -- [no audio] host: we lost her. with apologies, let's move on to an independent in ohio. caller: good morning. i feel that the constitution is there to tell the government what they are supposed to do. ok? like the guy that brought up the water -- well, the epa puts fluoride -- tells you you have to have so much fluoride in the water. there is something that -- fluoride is in, like, rat poison.
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and that is what they are having them put in the water. they have done a good job cleaning up the water, but the deal is we do not get the news. the news is blocked. just like the thing or they're having that spring in iraq and iran and libya and everywhere -- well, that was up caused by a movie. it is all blow-back. and these are things that they are lying to the american people about. we cannot get the news that we need. i am an old man. i have done nothing but time. there are people that work every day that do not have the time. host: thank you. back to facebook --
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host: what should the role of government be in your life? this on twitter -- host: texas, republican. good morning, you're on the air. caller: yeah, i believe that the proper role of the federal government is to protect individual liberties. i mean, we were supposed to have rules against theft, fraud, and
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injury. but the problem is the federal government has gone way beyond that. it seems like it wants to redistribute what people have gained through their liberties and freedoms. and once you do that, then you are violating people's liberties. i think they have gone way too far. i mean, they're telling us what light bulbs to buy, what kind of cars to buy, what kind of insurance to have. it is ridiculous. it really is. we need to let the states focus on that kind of stuff. the federal government should really just stick to the constitution, as mitt romney said. host: gary on twitter -- host: cynthia in maryland, a democrat. welcome. caller: good morning. i agree with the number one
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point with obama as far as keeping us safe, but that does not necessarily mean just militarily. i think that the states need to take care of themselves and the government should be its own system of checks and balances where the state's fall short and the government comes in to make sure the states do their job. it seems as though, to me, i have less trust in the government, and it seems as though it has become more of a celebrity issue instead of a government issue. i see the congress, at the senate as celebrities more so than at people who are concerned with the welfare of the united states population. host: thank you. more debate news from the kentucky newspaper,
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kentucky.com. posting the october 11 vice- presidential debate at center college could cost about $3.3 million, says the newspaper. the college, students, and public are not expected to pay much of it. the college had to commit $1.65 million to the commission on presidential debates. the college is paying for construction of facilities needed by the campaigns and the news media. it hopes to recoup most of the costs by billing them. news organizations have to pay $40 for one in-space with electricity to 1900 dollars for a television network trailer parking space. these costs going to the campaign -- host: the presidential debates
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actually cost more than that because the additional security. next is a call from joanne to resign palm beach gardens, florida, independent. -- who is watching us from palm beach gardens, florida, independent. caller: i think the role of government should be exactly what the constitution states, no ifs and no buts. also, anyone who is running for any type of elected office, appointed office, or employment in that the federal government, these people should be thoroughly investigated. it amazes me that obama was not completely investigated and other people who are within the government. and i thank you very much.
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host: thank you. later on in our program, we have two sequential female journalists and writers as our guests. the first in about 20 minutes, ann coulter, syndicated columnist. she has a new book out called "mugged." and then our next guest is the editor and publisher of "the nation" and a column this that appears in "the washington post." we are continuing to talk about the campaign's and some more expensive issues. >> all of this on our video library at c-span.org. we will take you live now to fairfax, virginia to the obama campaign.
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♪ >> hello, everybody. [cheers and applause] hello, george mason. hello, patriots. good to see you guys. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you so much. [crowd chanting -- four more
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years] thank you. everybody, have a seat. thank you. well, it is good to be here. i am so proud to have katherine's support. give her a big round of applause for that great introduction. [applause] it is also good to know that we have the former governor and the next united states senator from the commonwealth of virginia, tim kaine. and your congressman gerry connolly. it is good to see all of you. so, one month. just one month from tomorrow,
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virginia, you are going to step into a voting booth, and you're going to have a very big choice to make. i know folks in this crowd may have already made some decisions, but -- and [cheers and applause] but for the undecideds that there here, as well as those watching today, i have said this before, this is a choice not just between two candidates or two parties, but a choice between two fundamentally different visions for america. and today, i believe that, as a nation, we're moving forward again. we're moving forward. after losing about 800,000 jobs a month when i took office, our businesses have now added 5.2
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million new jobs over the past two and a half years. this morning we found out that the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since i took office. more americans entered the work force. more people are getting jobs. every month reminds us that have still got too many of our friends and neighbors who are looking for work, and their two many middle-class families that are still struggling to pay the bills. they were struggling long before the crisis hit. but today's news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down at the economy to score a few political points. it is a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now.
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[applause] because of your strength and resilience, the strength and resilience of the american people, we have made too much progress to return to the policies that led to the crisis in the first place. i cannot allow that to happen. i will not allow that to happen. and that is why i am running for a second term as president of the united states. [cheers and applause] i have seen too much pain, seen it too much struggle. to let this country get hit with another round of top-down economics. one of the main reasons we have this crisis is because big banks on wall street were allowed to make big bets with other people's money, and now governor romney wants to roll back the rules we put in place to stop the behavior. that is not going to happen.
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that is not going to happen. one of the main reasons record surpluses under bill clinton returned to record deficits under george bush is witt -- because we put two wars and a tax cut on a credit card. now governor romney and want another $5 trillion in tax cuts that he cannot pay for? that is not going to happen if i have anything to say about it. not going to happen. we're not going to lead this country fall backwards, not now, not with so much at stake. we have got to move forward. we need to invest in small business and manufacturers to create jobs here in the united states. we need to recruit 100,000 math and science teachers, trained two million workers and community college, bring down the cost of college tuition. we need to -- [cheers and applause]
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we need to cut our oil imports in half, pripet thousands more jobs in clean energy. we need to use the savings from ending the wars in iraq and afghanistan to help pay down our deficits and the people back to work doing some nation-building right here at home. that is the agenda we need. that is how you strength in the middle class. that is how you keep moving forward. that is the choice in this election. and that is why i am running for a second term. [cheers and applause] now, my opponent, you know, has been trying to do a two-step and reposition. he got an extreme makeover. [laughter]
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but the bottom line is, his underlying philosophy is the top-down economics we have seen before. he thinks that if we just spend another $5 trillion on tax cuts of that, yet, skewed toward the wealthiest, if we get rid of more regulations on wall street, then our problems will be solved. jobs and prosperity will rain down from the sky. we will live happily ever after. even though he has been proposing this plan for months now, he has had a little trouble explaining just how it would work without blowing a hole in the deficit or making your class families pick up the tab. the other night he ruled out asking millionaires and billionaires to pay even a dime more in taxes. he says there's no way that he would close the loophole to give -- that gives oil companies billions each year in corporate welfare. any tax breaks to corporations
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that move jobs and profits overseas, he had never heard of such a thing. who knew? who knew? [laughter] [applause] when he was asked what he would actually do to cut spending and reduce the deficit, his big example was to go after public television. [laughter] so to all you moms and kids out there, do not worry, somebody is finally getting tough on big bird. rounding him up. elmo has got to watch out, too. governor romney plans to lead wall street run wild again, but he is going to bring down the hammer on a sesame street. it makes perfect sense. [applause] virginia, we cannot afford to
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double down on the same old top- down economic policies that caused this mess in the first place. it cannot afford another round of tax cuts for the wealthy. we cannot afford to gut our investments in education or clean energy or research or technology. we cannot afford to roll back regulations on wall street banks are oil companies are insurance companies. that is not a jobs plan. it is not a plant to grow our economy. it is not a plan district and our middle class. we have been there. we have tried that. we're not going back. we're moving forward. we have a different view about how we create jobs. [cheers and applause] this country does not just succeed when just a few are doing well at the top. it succeeds in the middle class gets bigger. our economy does not grow from the top-down. it grows from the middle-out. we do not believe that anybody is entitled to success in this
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country, but we do believe in opportunity. we believe in a country where hard work pays off and responsibilities are rewarded and everybody is getting a fair shot and everybody's doing their fair share. and everybody's plan by the same rules. that is the country believe in. that is what we have been fighting for the last four years. that is what we're going to put in place in the next four years if you reelect me as president of the united states of america. [cheers and applause]
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[crowd chanting -- four more years] i also want to talk about economic issues that did not get enough attention in the debate the other night, economic issues that have a direct impact on women and as a conflict, having direct attack on families. when it comes to the economy, it is bad enough that our opponents want to take us back to failed policies of last decade, but when it comes to a woman's right to make her own health care choices, the want to take us back to the policies of the 1950's to this election is your chance to make sure that does not happen, virginia. the decisions that affect a woman's health are not up to politicians. they're not up to insurance companies. they are up to you. [cheers and applause] you deserve a president who will fight to keep it that way.
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that is the present and i have been bigger that is the president i will be if you give me a second term -- that is the president i have been. that is the president i will be if you give me a second term. you do not have to take me at my word -- you can look at my record. four years ago, i said i would pass health reform before the end of my first car. thanks to your help, that is what we did. the new health care law helps make sure you do not have to worry about going broke just because you or a loved one gets sick. insurance companies can no longer lifetime limits on your care or jack up your premiums without reason or drop your coverage when you need it most. they can no longer discriminate against children with pre- existing conditions. and soon, they will no longer be able to deny you coverage based on pre-existing conditions like breast cancer or charge more for
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the same care just because you are a woman. this law has already allowed nearly 7 million young adults under the age of 26 to sign up and stay on their parents' health care plans. it has already saved millions of seniors on medicare hundreds of dollars on their predict -- prescription medication. and millions of americans have actually gotten every day from their insurance company if that company -- you've got one? [applause] i just want to say, she was not planted. [laughter] i mean, she is a supporter, but i did not know about her. [laughter] but you get the rebate if the insurance companies spend too much money on administrative
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costs onceo bonuses -- costs and ceo bonuses. this is for care like mammograms and prevented the of screenings with no out-of-pocket costs for more than 20 million women. and now, most health plans are beginning to cover the cost of contraceptive care, which is of vital for women's health. you know, doctors prescribe contraception not only for family planning but as a way to reduce the risk of ovarian and other cancers, and it is good for our health care system in general. because we know the overall cost of care is lower when women have access to contraceptives service. before this new law, many health care plans charged high deductibles or probate's for these preventable services or they did not cover them at all. according to one study, more
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than half of all women put off the care they needed because of that. how many of you have gone without the care you need it or the czech up because you were worried that the insurance copiague would go too high and you could not afford gas our groceries -- because you are worried that the insurance co- pay would be too high? you knew you would have to make choices or sacrifices. i do not think any woman should have to wait for a mammogram because money is tight. i do not think a college student should have to choose between textbooks or the preventive care that she needs. that is why we passed this law. it was the right thing to do and we're going to keep it. now, my opponent has a different view. the other night, he said he would repeal obamacare as soon as he took office. [crowd boos] don't boo -- vote.
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vote. [applause] vote. but then he backtracked and said, no, wait, at least that will make sure to cover folks with pre-existing conditions. then i explained, well, actually, your plan does not do that. that his campaign had to come out and say, actually, that is not true, our plan would not do that. so governor romney was the fact- checked by his own campaign. that is rough. [applause] even they know his plan would take away coverage for tens of millions of americans. governor romney said he would get rid of planned parenthood funding. apparently, this, along with big bird, is a driving the deficit. [laughter]
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and he would have supported an extreme measure in massachusetts the would have outlawed some forms of contraception. he joined the far-right of his party to support a bill that would allow employers to deny a contraceptive coverage to their employees. think about that. your boss telling you what is best for your health and safety. let me tell you something, virginia, i do not think you're boss should control the care you get. i do not think insurance companies should control the care you get. i do believe in nothing politicians on capitol hill should control the care you get. we have seen some of their attitudes. we have read about those. i think there's one person who gets to make decisions about your health care. that is you. [applause] my opponent has called himself
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severely conservative, but let me tell you something, there's nothing conservative -- katherine made clear, there's nothing conservative about a government that prevents the woman from making her own health care decisions. governor romney talk about freedom, but freedom is the ability to determine the care you need when you needed. freedom is the ability to change jobs or sell your own business without the fear of losing your health insurance. the freedom of the knowledge that you no longer be charged more than men for the same health care or denied affordable coverage just because you see cancer. at a time when women make up nearly half the work force and an increasing share of family breadwinners, these are not just health issues or women's issues. these are economic issues that are vital and affect every family in america. they matter. when a woman is the main breadwinner for her family but takes home less pay for the same
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work as a man does because she is a woman, that is not right. when my opponent's campaign was asked if he would support legislation giving women the tools to fight for an equal day's pay for an equal day of work, he said, we will get back to you on that. since then, he has refused to explain his decision. you already have my answer, upholding the principle of equal pay for equal work. that is one of the first bills that i signed in office. [cheers and applause] i have named two extraordinary women who understand these issues on the supreme court, the highest court in the land. and, remember, the next president of the next congress, could tip the balance of the court in a way that turns back the clock for women and their families for decades to come. the choice between going backward and moving forward has never been so clear.
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virginia, we do not need a president who has promised to rubber-stamp the top-down a agenda of the republicans in this congress. we do not want to go back. we have got to go forward. from the day we began this campaign, we have always said that real change takes time. it takes more than one year or one-term or even one president. it takes more than one party. it certainly cannot happen if you're willing to write off half the patient before you even take office. [cheers and applause] you know, people forget -- back in 2008, 47% of the country did not vote for me. but on the night of the election, i said to all of those americans, i said, i may not have won your vote but i hear
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your voices, and i need your help, and i will be your president, too. and, virginia, i do not know how many of you will vote for me this time around, but i will promise -- [cheers and applause] but i promise you, no matter how many do, i will be your president, too. no matter what, i will be fighting for you. because i am not just fighting for democratic jobs or republican jobs. i am fighting for american jobs. i am not just fighting for good schools in blued states or read states. i am fighting for good schools in the united states. the values that we're fighting for an care about of hard work and you look -- and looking out for one another, those are not rich values or poor values or
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business values or worker values, red, white, black, asian -- it does not matter. they are american values. they are american values. and if we rally around a new economic patriotism together, if we reclaim our values, we will rebuild the economy. we will strengthen the middle- class. we will keep moving forward. i am confident that politics are not as divided as our politics suggest. i believe we have done more in common than the pundits are willing to tell you. i still believe in you and i hope you still believe in me. and if you're willing to get out there and make some phone calls and knock on some doors, if you'll vote for me in november, we novemberwin in fairfax county again -- if you will vote for me
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in november, we will win in fairfax county again. we will win in virginia again. i will remind people why the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. god bless you. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪ i've been knockin' on the door that holds the throne i've been lookin' for the map that leads me home
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i've been stumblin' on good hearts turned to stone the road of good intentions has gone dry as bone we take care of our own we take care of our own wherever this flag's flown we take care of our own from chicago to new orleans from the muscle to the bone from the shotgun shack to the superdome we yelled "help" but the cavalry stayed home there ain't no one hearing the bugle blown we take care of our own we take care of our own wherever this flag's flown we take care of our own where the eyes, the eyes with the will to see where the hearts, that run over with mercy where's the love that has not forsaken me where's the work that set my hands, my soul free
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where's the spirit that'll reign, reign over me where's the promise, from sea to shining sea where's the promise, from sea to shining sea wherever this flag is flown wherever this flag is flown wherever this flag is flown we take care of our own we take care of our own wherever this flag's flown we take care of our own we take care of our own we take care of our own wherever this flag's flown we take care of our own we take care of our own ♪ ♪
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>> president obama wrapping up the first of two campaign appearances here in the georgian mission -- george mason university in fairfax, virginia. he will be at cleveland state later today. it will be online at c-span.org. we're waiting to hear from mitt romney. he is in abingdon, virginia. he will have a live rally there. we will cover that for you in just a bit. we're opening up our phone lines to get your thoughts on a couple of things. obviously, the presidential race, but in particular, i you think the unemployment figure
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announced today affects the race. does it change the race? republican -- 202-585-3885. democrats -- 202-585-3886. independence -- 202-585-8837. mute your tv or radio when you call in. we will take a few phone calls here. we are hoping to take you to abingdon, virginia for that man -- for that mitt romney rally. we want to remind you to check a couple of tweets. we're looking at the twitter stream seized in 2012. the jobless figure, 7.8%, the lowest it has been since the start of the obama presidency. it dropped from 8.1% in august to 7.8% in september, with the economy adding 114,000 jobs in september. the president touched on it
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somewhat. mitt romney has issued a statement. i am sure we will hear more from its romney during his campaign even. plano, texas, democrat line. good morning. caller: sir, i want to say that this is fantastic. the president's speech was spot- on. he cannot represent -- he did not represent the 47%. he represented 100% of america. that is what we live in. and if we need to understand where this man is coming from, this man is moving our country forward. 110%. i voted for him last time. i will vote for him again. he is outstanding. thank you. host: louisiana, antonio. go ahead with your comments. caller: thank you for allowing
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me here. the president is doing the best he can. look at what bush left him with. come on now, you know? romney, lies, lies, and lies. host: did you watch some of the debate the other night? caller: yes, i have been watching everything. i am from another country. but barack obama has been like a dream come true, a black man. [indiscernible] is not a white president. he is not a black president. he is the united states president. he is a very good man with a lot of dignity and a lot of morals.
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host: the question this morning -- does the unemployment rate impact of the presidential race? dropping to 7.8%, the first time below 8% in the obama presidency. south carolina, good morning to jessica on our independents line. caller: i believe the unemployment rate really does -- i mean, it has a great effect on us. just being an american citizen and working all my life from the age of 18 and being a wife and mother, yes, it does affect us. but it takes more than four years to do a big change. he is trying his best. i really give it 100% to barack obama. the reason why, because he can make the bill but he cannot approve it all. we have to help.
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we have to help. everytime you turn around, there's something that going on. let's look at the good parts. i am tired of people looking at color. it is not about color. he is doing what he can do. let him be a 100% president to us. host: jessica, thanks for calling in. we're waiting to hear from mitt romney who is in abingdon, virginia. let's get a republican view from texas. caller: good morning. i am calling in favor of obama. recently i reviewed that the unemployment rate had dropped to 7.8%. i am in favor of this, and i think that president obama is showing his commitment to the american people. host: you are calling on our republican line. are you a republican? caller: i am i democrat. host: we will try to get a
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republican. steve from tennessee. what do you think, does the drop in the unemployment rate have any effect on the presidential race? caller: first of all, i want to say that it is a false report. it is absolutely impossible for it to be 7.8%. this report has been skewed, just like the polls in obama's favor. i also want to comment on the health care. if the truth about the health care were known as far as the hidden taxes, this law absolutely destroys the american economy once it takes full effect. i also want to make one more comment -- of the people would take a look and investigate the background of peru, and investigate the background of mitt romney, obama has never run anything in his entire life -- if people look at investigate the background of barack obama
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and investigate the background of mitt romney, obama has never run anything in his entire life. if he is reelected, life in america will no longer be the same. he has succeeded in everything he has tried to do -- believe me, he does not want this country to succeed. host: that is steve in tennessee. talking about the unemployment rate. it dropped to 7.8%. 114,000 jobs added in september. the bureau of labor statistics said the recalculated jobs for july and august were higher than they had said originally. steve alleged in his comments that the numbers were skewed. this data into some comments that were made by jack welch. here is a tweet on that --
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host: he is referring to comments made on twitter earlier today by jack welch, who said clear this morning that the unbelievable jobs numbers -- of those chicago guys will do anything, the cannot debate so the change the numbers. that is from jack welch, the former head of general electric. that was on his twitter feed from earlier today. that is reported on a bloomberg and elsewhere. we're waiting for mitt romney who has a rally said in abingdon, virginia. we will take you there when it gets under way. the president making his way to cleveland state university for a rally there this afternoon. we will have that live at 2:30 eastern. that will be live at c-span.org. what you think about the jobs number and the presidential race? caller: it is good, a big deal.
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the guy from tennessee, he does not know what he is talking about. right now, we have to come together. this is big news. not republican, not a democrat. this is for everybody. i do not understand why they talk obama this, obama that. this is good news for everybody. host: are you working? caller: yeah, i am and nurse. i just got a job. it is a big deal. it is nice. we have to pray for america. host: this is from a republican in salem, new hampshire. go ahead. caller: thank you. i wanted to make a couple of quick points. thank you for having me. why i am voting for mitt romney is, first of all, the jobless rate today is higher than the standard that obama set for himself and that he wanted to have by today.
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he was saying he wanted a jobless rate lower than 5.5% by today. but i also have a personal stake in this. my husband, a union carpenter, has been out of work for more than four years now. he is a carpenter in the greater boston area. and dropping out of the job market is not a sign of success. president obama is wrong. people are in despair. that 7.8% should not be construed as any type of victory, even a small one. it is still higher than when he took office. this is an untenable. we cannot have another four years of this. host: thank you for your call. checking back to our twitter screen -- and host: a couple more calls here.
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again, we're waiting to hear from mitt romney in virginia. a democrat in california. caller: good morning. yes, i am from california. i am calling in to indicate that i am so happy -- when i woke up this morning to hear that the jobs had dropped down to 7.8%. that is a significant number. anything under 8% for obama is a plus. he is a winner. i supported him from day one. i worked on his campaign last time. i work at the local democratic headquarters. i am a big supporter pick a i am into politics. i love it. the tode -- tide has changed. i think obama is going to win. he is honest, truthful, and he is a man with dignity.
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host: thank you. new hampshire, independent line. caller: i was a very, very active and a staunch obama supporters four years ago. i have absolutely converted now over to romney. the reason being really simply is that i just think that when you take a look at obama versus romney in the debate, it is painfully clear who is better prepared to handle the challenges going forward. in addition, romney used to say the -- the ryan and biden debate will solidify this even more. i have been leaning towards this as the presidency has evolved. to think that 7.8% is actually 7.8% is absolutely ridiculous.
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it is a hell of a lot higher than that. i have been fortunate. a lot of people around me have not been. bottom line, he has to go. winston churchill was ushered out the door at the end of world war ii. he did a great job. the time had come. the country was war-weary. we need a change. obama has to go. host: you voted for barack obama in 2008. caller: not only voted but work for him. host: republican line, florida, go ahead. one more call. atlanta, georgia, a democrat. caller: hello, i just wanted to kind of respond to the guy that was on earlier, talking about obama's background. he needs to stop what jean --
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stop watching fox news. they say that obama wants to take guns away. they did in the minds of these gullible people. i do not think that makes it too much sense. i am glad that the unemployment number is down. it is still bad. but just like the president said in his speech just a little while ago that i was watching, he said that we have still got a ways to go. but we're moving and we are moving in the right direction. host: we are going to bring you mitt romney from abingdon, virginia, and will have it live once it starts. two war presidential debates coming up on october 16. hofstra university, the focus will be on a town hall format,
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and the last presidential debate will be lynn university. next week we will show you the vice-presidential debate. this is in kentucky at center college. we will take the next two abingdon, virginia for mitt romney, live coverage on c-span. >> i want a president who does not apologize to our critics for america's strength and prosperity. the president should fight to protect it and preserve our nation's place as the beacon of hope for the rest of the world to emulate. i want a president and a government who is on our side and understands what it takes to create jobs, not one that issues suffocating regulations that we all know too well on around here
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have cost this region thousands of hide-paying jobs. i want a president whose energy policy is not based on and picking winners and losers, but a president who understands the need all of the above and means that and who knows that coal has and will continue to fuel an american progress. with no further delay, join me in extending a rowdy southwest virginia welcome to a friend of coal, a job creator, and the next president of this great nation, governor mitt romney. ♪
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[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪ >> wow, that is quite a welcome. thank you, virginia. i love you, too, guys. >> mitt, mitt, mitt, mitt!
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>> thank you. thank you. alf-hourst spent a he of your fine citizens who want to keep working in this area. a couple wonders if they are going to keep their farms because there has been lost the job in the coal mine. these are tough times, but you are strong people and we are going to bring back jobs and bring back america. somewhere congressman morgan griffith is here. thank you for being here. you got to make sure you are going to reselect the sky. we have a governor here today, but he is down in florida campaigning for me, so thanks for bob mcdonnell .
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you may know a couple nights ago we had a debate. you may have got the chance to see that. it was a good experience for me, for the president, for people to watch. it was a debate of substance. we talked about issues. i asked the president some questions that people across the country would want to ask the president, such as why it was when america was needing jobs so badly he was pushing for "obamacare"? i got to ask him why there are still 23 million americans out of work or struggling to find full-time jobs. i got the chance to ask him, why is the middle class buried in this country? the price of everything you buy is going up.
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people in the middle class have been buried. i got the chance to talk about at an ask him why he is cutting $716 billion from medicare. also got to point out he is in favor of a tax plan that will kill 700,000 jobs. he had a chance to enter those questions, or not answer them, as the case may be. more important was the chance to talk about where we are going in the future and what we would do, and what he described was in my view a reiteration of the status quo. he will keep doing the things he has done, had a stimulus, hire more government workers, pick winners and losers solyndra. he does not like picking winners. he just likes picking losers. he is in favor of higher taxes.
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yesterday the vice president blurted out the truth, saying they want to raise taxes $1 trillion. i do not want to raise taxes on any american because i want to create good jobs in america ought. i take america and in a different direction. i want to make sure our policies encourage job growth, and i have five things i will do. you have heard me describe them, that will get jobs growing in this country and in this part of virginia, because number one is to take full advantage of all our energy resources, oil, coal, gas, nuclear, and real bullets. i know you care more about colt than the other ones i mentioned, but when the president was running for office, he said if you build a new coal fired plant, you will go bankrupt.
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the head of the epa said the regulations on burning coals are so stringent is is impossible to build a new plant. i do not believe in putting our coal under the ground for ever. we should take advantage of it and using resources that is abundant, cheap, and can be burned in a clean way. i also believe in oil and gas, that we should develop our resources. within eight years north america should be energy independent, and that requires all those sources of energy. that will keep the price at the pump moderated, the price of electricity moderated, and it will mean a lot of good jobs. if we are serious about energy, really take advantage of the resources we have, you put create some 3.5 million to 4 million jobs. you are thinking about one job,
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your job. i am thinking about your job as well, person by person. every american deserves a good job. people are hard-working. i want to make sure your job stay here and provide a bright future for you and your family. i also believe in addition to energy that we have an opportunity to create more jobs by selling our goods and services abroad. i want to open up more trade with other nations. i will crack down on china. number three, i want to make sure our people have the skills they need to succeed. we have a lot of government training programs. that is all fine and well, except there are 47 of them, and they report to eight different agencies. the overhead costs of all this
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burden and bureaucracy is killing. , i want to take the money the federal government is spending on training, said it back to virginia are, it's fair share, and let virginia do what is right for the people of virginia. let me mention as my number 4, to get this economy going and create more good jobs, that me mention something about the deficit. this idea of every year america spending and the federal government $1 trillion more than we take in is bad for our economy cannot also bad for the next generation. i think it is immoral to spend more than we take in. i will cut federal spending, cap federal spending, and i will get on track to a balanced budget. people ask me how i will do that, and i will cut out programs we do not absolutely have to have.
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number two, i will make sure some programs but go back to the state where they can be run more efficiently. we will cut back on the federal government, and one program i will get rid of is "obamacare." finally, to mention a fifth idea, i want to champion of small business. i want to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses, to grow, and i know how to do that. the president has an unusual tax plan, to raise taxes, on a successful small businesses that happened to employee 1/4 of all america's private-sector work force, from 35% to 40%. when you take that with state income tax and payroll tax and real-estate taxes and gasoline tax all, together that means small business that are highly successful will end up giving
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more than what they have the government. that will kill jobs. i do not want to kill jobs. my priority is to create jobs, and i will do that with everything i can do. we can do better. we do not have to stay on the path we have been on. there was a report that came out this morning on job creation this last month. there were fewer new jobs created this month than last month. the unemployment rate has come down very slowly, but it has come down nonetheless. the reason it has come down this year is due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work. if you drop out of the workforce, give up and say i cannot go back to work, i will stay home, if you drop out altogether, you're no longer part of the statistics. it looks like an opponent is getting better, but if the same
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share of people were participating in the workforce today, as on day the president got elected, and the limit would be around 11%. that is the real reality. people who have jobs are having a tough time. the middle-class is being squeezed with incomes that have gone down by $4,300 a family. this cannot go on. that i'm president, unemployment rate will come down, not because people are giving up and dropping out of the workforce, because we are creating more jobs. i will create jobs and get america working again. so the american people have a choice. i think both men, we have individuals who cared deeply about our country and the people of america. we would lead america in
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different ways. this president calls his policies going forward. i called his policies for warned. we know where they had because we have seen them over the last four years. we have seen 20 million people out of work. we have seen incomes go down. we have seen trillion-dollar deficits. the road this president has put us on looks like europe, which is not working and it will not work here. if the president is reelected, this president will have a trillion-dollar deficit every year, we will end up with a $20 trillion debt, and you do not e that money, you do not see that that, but you will be paying the interest on it all your lives, and then your kids will be paying for it, and you will be wondering why the government is doing this, and it is racking up all the interest. take us down a path
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like your. there are countries on the verge of fiscal collapse or calamity or crisis. that is the path he is taking us on. i will take us on a different course. i will help create 12 million new jobs and rising take-home pay. i will get us on track to a balanced budget. i will restore personal freedom in part by getting rid of "obamacare" and returned to people the right they have to deal with their own health care with their own physicians. this president is trying to make all their numbers work by cutting in one place. that is our military. that is the one place he seems to be willing to take a pretty big meat cleaver to. he had his own budget which cut the military, but had this idea
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of the sequestration which would cut it even more. he is cutting about $1 trillion out of the military. we have fewer ships in the navy today that any time since 1917? the air force is older and smaller in its fleet at any time since 1947 when it was formed. you know our troops were s stretched to the limit, and yet he wants to shrink the number of troops, shipbuilding, purchases of aircraft. i will take us in a different direction. i will maintain a military second to none that is so strong no one will ever test us, we will add to our navy, air force, and to our active-duty personnel. >> usa! >> one of the great experiences
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i have had is meeting men and women who have served in our military. i deeply respect and appreciate the sacrifice that they have made, and i appreciate the sacrifice of their families. and those that have been lost and their families. i wonder if those who are here today who have served in the military or are serving will please to raise their hands and be recognized. wow. thank you. this is a beautiful corner of god's creation, but that wonderful line from one of our national hymns comes to mind, " oh beautiful, for heroes for liberating strife." i love our national heroes, the men and women of our armed forces. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. we face a critical time.
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we face a time when too many americans are out of work, went to many americans are tired of being tired. we face a time when kids wonder if the future will be as bright for them as it has been for their parents, when there is to mauled in the middle east and people are asking where is american leadership? this is a critical time. if we were to re-elect the president, we would not measure up to the test of time. , i understand what it takes to restore the vitality of our economy, and that will allow us to restore the strength of our military and continue to lead the world. their verdict upends upon it. i was in san diego, and i sat with a number of veterans from world war ii. one was actually on the uss tennessee on the day that their ship was attacked in pearl harbor. he was in the lookout post. could actually locked eyes with
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the pilots who were delivering armament. the men like him it sacrificed enormously for us for our prosperity and our freedom, and held aloft at the porch where the world to see, towards freedom and hope and opportunity. now there are not as many as there used to be in the greatest generation, not as strong, that are still with us. they cannot hold the torch quite as high. it is an hour to turn to grab that torch and hold aloft. and we are going to do it. i need you guys to all voters. we need to take back america and keep america the shining city on the hill. i love this great country. i believe in you. we will take america back so that the world will wonder at the great things we have a
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chief. thank you, virginia, god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. thank you. freei was born free, like the grandest canyon keep no chains on me i was born free
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i was born free born free ani was born free ♪ ♪ like an unknown stranger
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waiting patiently we gather from that mountain i was born free i was born free i was born free born free i was born free
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i was born free i was born free born free ♪
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♪ made in the usa american jobs sign's a foreclosure gone the factory's loyed when they get back
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home thank god for the usa. we got tractors keep your regulations up in d.c. i want my job to stay in the usa up in anwr, let's go and pay our miners to dig our coal solar energy everywhere we need more jobs today in the usa
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yeah i want my label to say made in the usa give a level playing field to us you working with me we can make our land what it needs to be i want my american job
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that's what i say neighbor de by my next door i want my label to say made in the usa usa americxan jobs in teh usa he usa american jobs in the usa ♪ ♪
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♪ ♪driving down the street i saw a sign for lemonade they were cutest kids i'd ever seen smiling, thinking to myself what a perfect picture post card this would make of america it's the man on the moon and kids selling lemonade america
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later on when i got home i flipped the tv on i saw some town a twister tore apart just ot help their neighbors out i was think i'm so glad i live in america school prom it's the man on the moon kids selling lemonade on nation under god merica
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we don't always get it right bere's no place i'd rather that fills my life rock-n-roll bank winda summer over fallen heroes' grave home paradeecome- kids selling lemonade one nation under god it's america it's america
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oh, yeah ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ just to get this right it's a struggle to sacrifice showtime to start the this is our moment this is our time and we're laying on the line this is our destiny
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this is our moment this is our time itars been playing gua wince we were 4 ups time to turn it time to take the stage this is our moment this is our time and we're laying it on the line this is our destiny our time to shine this is our moment ♪
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>> mitt romney talking about the unemployment rate. it dropped to 7.8%, and his running mate paul ryan, no appearances today, but he did say in a statement that today is a sad indictment of the dimmest expectations under president obama op. -- president obama marieta. ♪
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host: you will hear more from the candidate this evening. 8:00 tonight on c-span. the debate coming up, the two remained debates come tuesday october 16. candidates will be taking questions from the audience at
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hofstra university. the final debate, october 22, and the questions will focus on foreign policy. the vice-presidential debate next thursday, from kentucky. all those live on c-span. if you missed wednesday n night's debate, you can watch it on our debate hub and share your own video clips at c-span.org /debates. >> your always surprised it will come back to you and change your view. it is different because it shows a lot of what is real and what is going on.
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i watched hearings on c-span, and also when the supreme court has hearings. we watch different decisions and opinions on c-span. >> erin watches c-span on directv, c-span brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> almost 20 years ago we broadcast one of the most controversial stories in our 44 years on the air. it is entitled yes, but is it art. i was accused of being a philistines, someone lacking the ability to appreciate the nature of contemporary art. in those 20 years, those works
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that i questioned are now worth hundreds of million does. i discovered something that i had absolutely could barely believe, that when you question it ise's taste in art, more personal, more probing than politics, religion, sexual preference. it is something that goes to the very soul when you say, you bought that? >> morley safer on his career, "q&ay at 8:00 on c-span's ." >> next we will take you to
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charlotte for the governor debate. the debate took place in in trying " research park, and this is just over 50 minutes. >> good evening, and thank you for joining us for the first of two debates. i am delighted to be your moderated. to introduce the major candidate for governor, walter dalton is the democratic candidate, a former six-term north carolina state senator and is currently the lieutenant governor. pat mccrory sat on the charlotte city council. before we began, here are the world's. it will begin with opening statements from both candidate.
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the candidate will then respond to questions asked by three television news anchors. the big book include the closing statements. the order of the opening and closing statements and questions was determined prior to the debate and have been agreed to buy but the candidates. mr. dalton will have our first opening statement. >> a thank you. i want to remember our north carolina and national guardsmen who lost their lives in afghanistan and remember their families. i look forward to your questions, because this is important. we have seen tough times, and north carolina is at a crossroads. i want to lead us forward. i want to help the people in the middle class, the working families, the senior citizens. i learned from my father from his public service that the right policies and lift lives, the right policies invest in
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education and create jobs. i will listen to you, talk with you, and work with you to lead us to that better days. i look forward to sharing my vision with you tonight, and thank you for watching. >> it is great to be here at the studios and on this historic night, not only for the state cannot afford the nation. it is great to have my wife in the audience with my family who lived across north carolina. i grew up in jamestown where i learned my values. i obtained my north carolina teaching certification. then i move to charlottetown where i became a leader in the private and public sector. right now are our state faces serious challenges. we have the sixth highest unemployment rate in the nation. people are looking for jobs, trying to hang on. i am running to try to fix our broken economy and government. >> thank you for those opening statements.
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asking the questions of the candidates are three veteran television news anchors. member stations of the north carolina as the stations abroad taster's nominated journalists to. they were selected by random drug. we have dave jordan from the greenville ma rket. and dave wagner from charlotte. also the topics and questions for this debate were selected after surveying members of the association of north carolina. after the candidates have provided answers, the candidate complementing first may provide an additional response up to 30 seconds in length.
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if any candidate exceeds that time, i will interrupt and advance our discussion. the journalists are allowed to ask follow-up questions to the candidates, if needed. our first question tonight is from dave jordan. >> both of you have talked about jobs and the economy as a top issue. you have both set forth specific plans. could you give us more detail on what exactly is that you want to do, how it you will achieve that, and how soon you think jobs can be created. >> we are going to tough times, and i have listed specific steps that i will take as governor if i am elected. the first thing we need is change the culture of government, and the attitude to make sure that state government treat our small businesses and all businesses as a customer, as opposed to an adversary. and reviewing all regulations to make sure we do not have regulations on the book that are
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hindering the growth of our businesses and limiting the growth of creating new jobs that are desperately needed. the second thing, reform our tax system to make it more competitive, especially with our neighboring states, south carolina, tennessee, and virginia who are beating us in economic development. the third thing is to implement a 25-year plan for infrastructure, to show our business community and citizens how we plan to invest their hard-earned tax dollars for the next 25 years. so we can show our business community we are serious in complementing their efforts as opposed to getting in the way. there are many things we need to add me to move very fast. >> my plan creates jobs now and for the future. if you go to it, it is very detailed, giving a tax credit to hire a a long-term unemployed, it has shared work where you can have someone get off
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unemployment, have them work on a trial basis, to get a partial ban had. we can save tax money for that. there is a plan to create manufacturing in north carolina, and dollars for development. i have not seen his detailed plan. when he talks about that, he has a tax benefit for people who work more than $5 billion. he will have the biggest corporations paying no tax in north carolina. he wants to shift that to the middle-class, our working families, senior citizens on fixed income, and i do not think that will create any jobs whatsoever. my plan is detailed, talking about the military and doing military reset and building in the economy within the carolina. it talks about how we will talk about rural areas and rebuild that and keep our new generation of people there building jobs and providing leadership. 10 seconds to go to walterdal
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ton.org. >> i will respond to the criticisms, there's only one person who has proposed any taxes, and that is lieutenant governor along with the governor, when months ago it they were recommending a 15% sales tax increase during the toughest recession that most citizens have ever seen. a 15% sales tax increase. that is the recommendation made when he was governing. now they are changing their mind at the time when running for elective office. >> relation to that question, do either of you have a timetable as to when you think these jobs will create it, either short-term or long-term, and if you have any idea how many jobs you think you can create. >> if you look at the hiring of long-term unemployed it can be done quickly. the trial or. will be very successful.
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the other jobs are lager, but they invest in our talent. entrepreneurship, is what will drive that future economy. my plan addresses that. them that a correct assumption of a correction. a governor does not create jobs. what we do is help create an apartment in which the government does not deterred jobs from growing in north carolina. that is exactly but the government has done during the past 10 years in the executive branch. we have deterred the creation of new jobs in north carolina. >> the next question stays with the economy. >> out do you feel about providing incentives to attract new businesses or allow existing businesses to expand so that we're not losing companies like continental tyre to south carolina.
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>> thank you. i do not know anybody who likes incentives, but the courts have said they are legal. other states are offering them. we have to be in the incentive game. it is like buying a vehicle, you identify a general motors card cannot afford, and a toyota, and you ask what is your incentive, and they say five years, a 0% financing or a $2,500 rebate. that one is out of the game. we have to have an incentive package. the key is to make short incentives are competitive with other states and the best in said that of all in north carolina is our work force, our people, and the strength of our system that does great work for training. in order to keep jobs here and other states from attracting them out, in order to grow jobs within north carolina, we have to have a competitive incentive package. >> the best incentive for new jobs in north carolina and the
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expansion of jobs is for everyone to the existing companies and do companies, and that is not have the highest sales tax, highest corporate tax, and income tax in the southeast, which is what we have. if we reform the tax system, we will have a sustainable model to show new industry, as opposed offering what we have done in the last two years, up-front cash incentives, which north carolina has not done in the past. we need a long-term economic development plan that includes incentives, but they have a way and understood by the public and people negotiating with it. we have not had that, so we are losing battles with neighboring states. north carolina become more competitive -- when we offer upfront cash to new businesses to come at the same time, where taxing existing businesses to
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help pay for those incentives. we're sending a mixed signal to existing businesses that have invested in north carolina. that is not a sustainable development policy. >> we lost continental tire caused other states were offering upfront cash incentives. the republican governor in virginia asked for more. he talks about reform. what he has talked about is disturbing that current tax burden. that is up to $11 billion. he is talking about a corporate tax being s0%. reallocation means it will be on the working class and senior citizens. >> thank you for talking to us tonight, and i want to follow up on issues. do you support cutting income taxes, and what specific tax or
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taxes would you consider increasing to make up for lost revenue in the state? >> i think we need at least become competitive in the corporate tax and income tax with neighboring states. they are in a whole different world. the back of the matter is we need to do that in order to be competitive. it would reduce the need to get these out for cash incentives where you are throwing money at new businesses. that is a mixed and contradictory policy. to be criticized for tax increases, my opponent is the one who recommended the 15% sales tax increase, which impacts everyone, including the middle class. >> when he says 15%, it is less than a penny for a short period of time. that is behind us. i have proposed no new taxes. i have cut $8 million of taxes
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during my time in the legislature. i cut the food tax, and if you talk about north carolina's tax rates, weak dow you blow to aleutian -- we value low tuition in north carolina. we have more centralized management in our state. we do not have 100 dot's. our community colleges are centralized. the court system is centralized. it supplements that with state dollars. we get targeted tax incentives for companies. if they pay higher than the average wage come to invest an amount of money in britain and border so they pay taxes on that, if they offer their employees benefits, they're likely to get some incentive to creep a substantial number of jobs if they are a 21st-century
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job that will last. if you offer any incentives, you have to have a clawback. >> first of all, we have 20th century jobs that are still employing people. from agriculture, which is an extremely important part of the economy, and the only talk about 21st-century jobs is inexcusable, because the agricultural community is one of the most important industries in our state. that is but the 20th- and a 21st-century energy. i am not giving on manufacturing. when i go to the west and seek furniture companies staying in business, we need to help them as much as helping new high-tech industry in north carolina. , i have a follow-up, the question is, can each of you tell me the apartment tax rate you paid last year? >> i am going to estimate 25%,
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give or take. i will say this, you have got my tax returns. the people have my tax returns. i think this is an application for a job. i filled out my application, and he has not. >> i paid what was required by the irs, and the irs has ever questioned my tax returns as long as i have been employed in north carolina. i am proud of my private sector experience, and i will not have the irs checking personal tax records of city council members or governors. they need to stay out of our business, and so do politicians. >> the issue of health care with a question from dave jordan. but the state will complete its transition as the next governor takes office. how will you ensure those who need to do not fall through the
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cracks? >> health has been a very tough issue. several years ago, we privatized mental health, and all the help directors were saying that would be a good thing. a ended up not being a good thing, particularly for oral areas who do not have a private providers. i think if you look at some of the advantages of the affordable care act, you will see mental health has helped tremendously, and i think that will help the health of the people, but help the health of our economy. we will be able to receive about $15 billion in the last six years of that, or the first three years. that will help provide services in rural areas, which have such a high medicaid population. when -- i would opt into that pit the first three years is
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without cost, but it is your dollars coming back from washington. i want those dollars coming to north carolina. i do not want to send our money up there and it goes somewhere else. the one area that would benefit tremendously is in mental health. >> when i debated here four years ago with then lieutenant governor perdue, she said she and her administration would fix the mental health problem in north carolina. it has not been fixed. it is disastrous. if you talk to any sheriff, right now we have mental health patients that are sitting in our emergency rooms waiting for service and waiting 24, 48 hours. we have not increased the service to mental health patients. addiction issues that sheriffs are having to deal with in county jails.
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this is not being talked about enough by the executive branch. >> you have an ad running where the teachers are saying is your goal to make sure every child in north carolina can read by the fourth grade. the response i am hearing to that is you are setting the bar incredibly low. how deep you respond to that? mr. dalton, where to you think that marcia be set? >> what like to thank the teacher from a high school for participating in that commercial. compared to north carolina standards, the current success of kids reading after the third grade, that is a very high standard. it would be a tremendous improvement, because right now a large percentage of our kids are not doing as it reading and writing after third grade, and
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almost all of them are being permitted on the fourth grade. when you do that, the likelihood of them dropping out of school is extremely high, and we have been allowing these social promotions. i have looked at systems by mitch daniels in indiana and seeing if we put strict criteria and resources in the first three grades, especially third grade, and ensure if a child cannot read or write, do basic math, put resources you can at that grade level to ensure that there is no longer social promotion, because when that happens, we're failing students and north carolina. >> that is why smart start and before it is so poor pick he has supported those 20% cuts to that budget. that was held unconstitutional, and the legislature to not fix it. the injured to your question is we need children reading as soon as possible, and as early
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childhood programs are so critical. i did not just say that, but federal reserve says that, and most conservative body that says we do not normally engage on social issues, but we have done research, and the research shows that the very best dollar you can spend in education is in early chopin developer. this cuts have hurt that effort. mike education plan which we announced today replenishes that money and expand early childhood education. that is the way you get children to read as early as possible, and that is ultimately how you build a better economy. >> you cannot defend the current status quo of one out of every five students not graduating from high school. when we have 60% of our children who do graduate from our schools need remedial english and math in our community colleges. we are replicating resources at
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every level of our system. it is not a matter of meeting new money. it is a matter of using resources we have to look at the results and teach more effectively. and support our local school systems more effectively. i am not accepting the status quo. but the next question we will stick with education. >> >> education funding has been hotly debated over the past couple of years. would you cut if you look at the education plan i came out with, -- its relations of lot of that money. i will not cut education. it has been cut to been deeply. you are not going to improve education by the at the bottom of the less in spending on our students.
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during the great depression, o. max garden was the governor of our state. he believed education is power. knowledge is power. we have to invest in education. we need to prioritize that money. we need to use that money for technology and customization and treat our teachers as professionals and pay them a professional wage. give them the but -- the professional development they need as best practices so they can take it back into the classroom and educate our children so we can compete with every child in the united states and across the world. i want to make north carolina a leader in the nation and in this global economy. we do not do that by cutting education. >> mr. mccrory?
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during the first two years iof the -- of the dalto administrationn , they did cut education. -- of the perdue-dalton administration, they did cut education. there is a difference between his budget and the legislature partial -- legislature's budget. it was less than 1%. i want kids to learn and get the skills needed to get a job as opposed to moving in with their parents. that is what education is for, to get critical thinking, to teach them a skill. that will help the state get out of a recession. if we pour more money into a broken system, we will have the same failure rate we have had for the last 10 years under the perdue-dalton
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administration. it is time to renew our education by streamlining areas of education, k-12. get them to work as a team and not as separate entities. >> mr. dalton, your response. >> he talks about the perdue- dalton administration, but we were elected separately. we are making progress. the cuts did not help. when you talk about improving education, i did the innovation -- innovative education act that was described as a model for the nature -- with the nation. the graduation rate was almost 100%. thank you. i think my time is up. >> we will return to the energy issue.
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>> the north carolina eastern municipal power agency was put the best creed -- created to provide power to north carolina. it has been in debt since 1981. a state committee was formed to look at the possible solution for this debt. do either one of you think there is a solution to this? is it something you will pursue as governor. we will begin with mr. mccrory. >> the cost of electrical energy is one of our greatest economic tools in north carolina, in addition to our right to work status and not having a collective bargaining. i think there is potential down the road, especially with the merger of two utility companies to look at more efficiencies in more areas of the state where there are much higher utility prices than other areas of the state, which makes those areas
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less competitive. i will put those parties together and see if there is a way we can deal with this long- term capital costs and operating costs that is the result of a deal that works against consumers in north carolina. mr. dalton -- >> mr. dalton? >> we need to make sure the city is not taking those funds to hold their general tax rate down. they are killing the people. if you do that, you will see the debt come down. the other way is to look at my economic development plan. it has a provision for capital funding for manufacturing. the mayor was talking on some things in manufacturing for 20th-century jobs. my plan has a provision for that. we will put people back to work in manufacturing. we need to give an incentive to mills and manufacturing facilities to come back into our cities. when you get that large load,
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you will get more revenue. that is part of the problem. a lot of the textile mills have shut down. a lot of this furniture mills have shut down. they have lost those revenues. if you go back to federal trade policies, in 2003-2004, when the 17% unemployment. i know the pain of that. those trade policy since jobs overseas and close down manufacturing facilities. if we get those back, those revenues will come in and those cities will be helped. >> your response? >> that is factoring is extremely important. if you talk to any manufacturer right now in north carolina, the regulations against manufacturing is so burdensome -- are so boredoms some. they say, i give up. i will move across the state line. there is a major plant outside of greenbelt. ville.outside of greenbel
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we are making it hard for existing businesses in north carolina. >> where you stand on fracking. that is the process on injecting water and sand deep into rock to extract natural gas. how can guarantee this can be done safely? i will begin with you, mr. dalton. >> i am open to all energy possibilities, fracking being one. i disagreed with the governor when she vetoed that bill. we need to get some safeguards in place for the possibility of fracking. if you look at all the studies -- i presided over the senate when they did they did that. a study was quoted as saying, if you do not for lack of that if we do not do fracking, the most you would be italy's -- if you
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do not use fracking, the most you can get is six days'supply supply.' it takes a ton of water to do fracking. we need to be careful that if any fracking is allowed that it does not deplete our water supply as well as damage our water supply. >> mr. mccrory? >> for the last four years, i cannot tell if they are for it or against it based on that comment. the former mayor of philadelphia and former governor of pennsylvania said there are six ways to do it. they are implementing safeway's in pennsylvania. the study -- implementing safe
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ways in pennsylvania. the study mr. dalton is referring to was done in pennsylvania. it has rebuild the economies in blighted counties. it is time to quit sitting on the sidelines. use policies that have already been put in place by democratic and republican governors across the nation. evelyn those in north carolina and let the private sector determine whether or not there is natural gas under the our precious ground here. >> mr. dalton, your response? >> spoken like someone who represents big oil. his law firm represents the american petroleum institute. there is no surprise that he is making those types of comments. i am open to any and all options. it has to be safe. it can not deplete our water supply. i think i am out of time.
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>> a follow-up question. >> you mentioned job creation through fracking. at its peak, it will only create 372 jobs. given some of the unknown and potential risks, is it worth it for that number of jobs? >> the department of commerce has yet to drill anywhere. why don't we let them determine if we have natural gas resources underneath our ground? that is what i want to do. if there are, we will have safe, environmentally sound policy in north carolina. just like ed rendell has in pennsylvania. >> you are out of time. >> mr. dalton, would you like to respond? >> no, i am is fine. >> we are going to take a short break for a public-service announcement. and now back with more questions for our candidates.
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we start with dave. >> this is a question about state government. at a time when families across north carolina are making sacrifices in their budget, can you give me an example of one specific program he would cut or eliminate in state government. i will start with mr. mccrory. >> what i want to do is look for duplication. one of the duplications i will look for is in education. we are doing menial education in k-12 and in our community colleges. we also have that in our university system where freshmen are entering our universities and we are spending millions of dollars for remedial education. that means there is a broken system. we are spending millions upon millions of limited tax dollars to repay something we should have done by the first time. this is and inefficiency we must end in state government to help our budget and our students. >> mr. dalton.
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>> if you look at the motor pool, you have seen articles about that. we can be far more efficient about that. if you look at contract think, what i was in the senate, i help local governments by saying we need to understand local technology. rather than bidding on everything, it shot blocked by fire trucks and wilmington bought one, they were all going out to bid -- if charlotte bought 5 fire trucks and wilmington bought one, there were all going out to bid. i am all about looking at the inefficiencies of government. that is the first thing i would do what i had my cabinet members in. let's talk about how we find efficiencies and put them on paper. i want you to sign a contract on how we are going to make us more efficient. we will hold you to that
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contract. that is the way we develop efficiency in our state government. >> a question about leadership. many polls indicate voters do not have confidence in either party to get things done. if you are elected and the opposition party is in control of the legislature, how can you deal with -- what did you say to voters to say this will not be a rubber stamp administration? >> you lead by example. three times what i was in the north carolina senate and as lieutenant governor, i took a voluntary cut in pay to empathize with our state employees. if they are suffering, you have to lead by example. at the height of the financial collapse in charlotte when unemployment was at its highest , the mayor took a 19% pay raise. at the fox did not take a pay
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raise. he was on the city council. -- anthony fox did not take a pay raise. working with the opposition, you do not work across the table, you work around the table. the first identified the problems we have. we have some agreement. can we identify our goals? we can get some agreement. how you solve the problems and achieve the goals? there will be a lot of disagreements, perhaps. we will find some common threads. when you find one or two common threads, you start weaving that fabric and getting to the solutions. i think i am is well respected in both sides of the aisle and in both houses. i will be nobody's rubber stamp. >> making those types of commons does not help in bipartisanship. dave, even you know as mayor that might pay was $38,000-
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$39,000. it is the same pay the current mayor is paying himself. i have a history of working together with both parties. i was the mayor of a city, the elected seven times in a city that had many more democrats than republicans. i am proud of my leadership. i stepped on the toes of the right and the left during my 14 years as mayor. that is what a leader has to do. they have to make tough decisions. they have to have a vision and have the strength to implement those visions. that is why i was reelected seven times. i am proud of that leadership. we created an environment to create jobs. i want to create that environment for the entire state and have a government of cooperation, not a government of being an adverse rate for our citizens and our small businesses. >> mr. dalton, your response.
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>> he talks about his wins. in the last election, he lost charlotte and mecklenburg county. for nine straight years while he was mayor, charlotte was the highest tax city in the state and the highest tax city when he left. he took in 19% pay raise. taxes went up. there is no wonder that the people did not voted for him because of some of those things. >> i would like to continue that conversation. i have talked to voters out there who say they are fed up with congress and the state legislature because they do not think you can get anything done. you are not willing to compromise because of partisan politics. can each give me a specific example of somewhere in your years of public life where you have tossed aside partisan politics and gotten something done? >> i helped a city become so
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dynamic that it even attracted the democratic national convention. it was used as a showcase of a city. one of the reasons is -- we had a lower property tax than winston-salem, drum, greensboro. -- durham, greensboro. the way he uses statistics is extremely misleading. we need to be honest about the budget in north carolina. the next governor of north carolina will have to inherit a budget that is not balance regardless of what the balanced budget amendment says it is. we all $2.80 billion to the federal government for unemployment insurance. we have to be honest about tax figures. we have to be honest about revenue deficits. we have to quit playing these political gains of shops where basic accounting is needed in the governor's office --
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shots where basic accounting is needed in the governor's office. >> espy as bringing people together, i worked in the school district -- ask for bringing people together, i worked in the school district and we passed nine pieces of legislation that help to that system, which has been hailed as a model for the nation. i have a reputation of working across the aisle. let me correct one thing. when he talks about the county taxes, one of the reasons is that the news media says there is no greater cheerleader for that sales tax than the mayor. he gets credit for having that tax package. as far as the balanced budget, when i was in the senate, we kept our aaa rating and we were tied for the most fiscally
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response will stay in the nation. thank you. >> the want to respond? >> i need to clarify the record. thank you for voting and supporting my record -- a effort to take to the voters effort to pay for the transportation system. when he was budget chairman, the increased tax after-tax after tax. when he was lieutenant governor, the first thing the governor did with his approval was to increase the income tax, the corporate tax and make a recommendation to increase the sales tax. this is not leadership. we have to reform state government and with the private sectors have done in the past that years. we have to do more with less, more efficiently, and more effectively. >> can i ask you again specifically something you have done to bridge that partisan gap and reach across the aisle, a specific instance?
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>> implementing a mass transit system in my city. i worked closely with governor hunt's. we campaigns together when he was governor. -- i was closely with governor h unt. -- hunt. we shared a platform to allow the voters of mecklenburg county to share a vision i presented. >> our next question is from dave wagner. there was an internet only add that said mr. mccrory just as i understand the african-american experience in north carolina. do you think characterizing your upon it that way is appropriate in this campaign to about how you handle issues of race in this campaign? >> that was about the time he was running a tv ad that had someone who had made derogatory and a sense of comments after
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ce by 24 points. they were upset when governor romney made his 47% comments. there were republicans across the nation the spoke out against that. some republicans withdrew their endorsement of governor romney. he did not. he embraced that. there were people -- that that is not strictly about african americans. -- that ad is not strictly about african-americans. it is about the working people. i will represent 100% of the people. that is what that advertisement was about. senator mansfield was speaking and showing he was upset with what was going on in the mayor's campaign. it was a senator who was speaking and saying he was upset about the attitude he was seeing in that campaign. we need someone who not only
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brings democrats and republicans together. we need someone who brings everybody together. i am not about representing 53% or 47%. i will represent 100%. >> what a pity it. it was a low point in north carolina politics -- what a pivot. it was a low point in north carolina politics. that ad was something that will not bring people together. i have a history as a mayor and as a human being of mentoring young kids of all races and learning about their experiences. i treat people as individuals, not as monolithic groups. we have to quit doing that in our nation and in the state. the ship has to look at individuals and look at their potential. i just -- leadership passed to look at individuals and look at their potential. i talked to one of my mentees.
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he is now 32 years old. he would come on his bicycle to my house late at night, scared. he taught me as much as i taught him. it is a friendship that will be with me for life. i am proud of that experience. i cannot bring cameras to do this. i did it because it is the right thing to do. to be accused of something in the 82 had is inexcusable. >> mr. dalton -- in a youtube ad, that is inexcusable. >> that ad -- you do not understand how all sense of the advertisement was. you do not understand how office of the 47%, it is. you never -- -- how offensive the 47% comments was. perhaps it was an innocent mistake, but it was a bad mistake. >> are you talking about me or
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someone else? i am not sure who he is referring to. >> we will move onto the issue of boulter id -- voter id. >> in north carolina, we do not have a voter id bill. there have not been many cases of fraud uncovered across the state. is it worth the price of enacting this? we will begin with you, mr. mccrory. >> absolutely, it is worth the price. the legislation has been drawn up. it is one of the few details that cannot occur during the last session. we have to protect the integrity of the voter box. there are millions of dollars coming into the north carolina political system, much of it from outside. there are gaps in the system where people do not have to show any form of connecting the
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individual with their address. it is ripe for abuse. we have already learned from the current governor that there is abuse and breaking of campaign laws, which is inexcusle. if we require id to get sudafed, if we require an id to get into the governor's manchin and an id to get into the democratic national convention when it was held in charlotte, and id is good enough for the voting box in north carolina. >> sudafed is not a precious constitutional right. there is no evidence of voter fraud in north carolina. i find it interesting because he is always talked about less government and less spending. we are going to spend millions of dollars on something that is not a problem. it is a solution looking for a problem. who i worry about is the elderly veteran.
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we have some world war ii that trends in rest homes. they do not have any type of -- veterans in rest homes. they do not have any type of picture id. and in rural areas, they have to drive a long way to exercise that right. some people do not have i need to make that effort to get there and find out they cannot exercise that precious right that they shed their blood for. that is wrong, that is wrong and that is wrong. >> mr. mccrory, your response. >> i will be sure to tell my fellow students in jamestown that i did not understand their needs. requiring some sort of identification to prove that you live here is a basic protection. millions of dollars on the ground. there is abuse in the election system. if you do not look for it, which they have not looked for, they
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will not find it. it is in chicago. it has been in philadelphia. it has been in other cities throughout the united states. >> your time is up. >> or our final question, we are going to focus on the issue of transportation. both of you will receive one minute 30 seconds. >> we used to be known as a good road stay in north carolina. do you have a comprehensive plan for -- state in north carolina. the have a comprehensive plan for transportation in north carolina? can you do it without raising gasoline prices, which are the highest in the nation? >> i chaired something called the logistics task force. it is interesting you mention that. i talked about and governor that was known as the good roads governor. his vision was to have a hard
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surface road in every county seat. i asked what that concept was today. it is from our back yard to the world. it is one of the economic development regions in the state. we are not going to be raleigh central. we want to listen to you. we want to know what your needs are. north carolina is different throughout. we talked about doing comprehensive transportation facilities where you have distribution, warehousing, good roads, railroads. we looked at our ports. if you go to that report, you will see what our proposed as a framework for that future transportation infrastructure. as far as funding, we have been a donor state for the federal
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government. we spend more money -- we send more money to washington d.c. our roads. we have to look at private partnership. it will always be a challenge. we will meet that challenge. the carolina will be a leader in, as in the future. >> mr. mccrory. >> infrastructure is something we have a passion for. it is up to government to provide the necessary infrastructure for, is to proceed and grow in our state. as mayor, one of the first things i did in 1996 was to formulate and implement an infrastructure plan, a transportation, water, sewer plant for 25 years. it is a long-term thing. not to show the plan to the people and have the experts tell you how we connect to the ports, how we connect the rural areas with the urban areas, how we
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connect to the airport, how we connect the west with the east, how we connect with our fellow states, tennessee, virginia, south carolina? i want to present that infrastructure plan. what the state has done was basically say, give us the money and trust us where we will put our roads. the road system has been so politicized under the good old boy and good old girl system for the past 15 or 20 years. we have got to revise it. we have to implement transportation with the limited knowledge we have based on a specially sound plan that a governor can implement. that is what i plan to do. thank you >> well it's an honor to be here. north carolina is going through some very difficult times. we do have the fifth highest unemployment rate in the country. what i want to do is bring in my leadership skills i've acquired in the private and
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public sector and bring a team together to implement a plan to reform an outdated tax system. we cannot except the status quo of leadership in north carolina. it is going to take an outsider to break up this good ole boy system that's been in control for far too long in our state government. we need a refreshing new voice, a voice of reason, a voice of leadership. we're all going to have to work together to make this city and this state, this area, this region, every region of our state competitive with the rest of the world and we can do it in north carolina. it's time for a north carolina come back. >> i want to thank the broadcasters for response is
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response soring this debate. >> we oh a lot to this debate. we grew up here. and i want the very best for that child and every child in north carolina. that means investing in education, not cutting education. that means we don't give our money to private schools. big oil and big banks spend a lot of money getting someone to fight for them. i will fight for you, i will fight for the middle class, i will fight for our senator citizens that are on fixed income and working together we will move north carolina forward. i ask for your vote. >> and that concludes this debate. we would like to thank mr. dalton and mr. mccrory for their participation. >> this was brought to you by the north carolina association of broadcasters educational
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foundation. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> thanks for watching. >> we need to tackle our nation's challenges before they tackle us. we need to save medicaid and social security. we are putting solutions on the table for that. for my generation and the senators these promises will be kept. they have laid out clearly what they say president obama and joe biden is is endanger medicare. they've done it and you've seen all the ads. >> next thursday night october 1, congressman paul ryan and joe biden will face off in their only debate. you can watch and engage with
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c-span starting at 7:00 eastern. our live coverage on c-span and online at cspan.org. >> as we look ahead on c-span tomorrow night we'll show you vice presidential debates for the past 25 years. these are the times -- watch all four debates from our archives beginning at 7:00
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eastern tomorrow night. >> and live sunday we will have the connecticut senate race debate. that's live sunday morning at 11:00 here on c-span. >> last night new jersey senate race debates squared off. this debate is courtesy of n.j. tv. >> we welcome the first debate between the two major party candidates for the u.s. senate. >> questioning the candidates tonight the editorial page editor of the record and he recalled news.
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>> and a washington correspondent for the record. we have some questions also recorded earlier by the news director. here are the rules for tonight's debate. each candidate will have 90 seconds for an opening and closing statement. and each will have 60 seconds to answer a question from our panel. there say light to keep us on schedule. the audience has promised once again to make my job easier and show proper respect for the candidates by holding aplaws until we finish this broadcast. let's begin. >> wes toed a coin and senator goes first. >> thank you very much.
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thank you for this debate. i love this country. i love america. all of us are blessed to call america home. i'm a product of the american dream. my grandparents came to this country and later my father and they lived a great american dream life. i grew up, i went to school, i became a state senator and i stand before you tonight a candidate for the united states senate. but that american dream is in peril. it's in peril for my son and daughter and our children and grandchildren across the land. and we need to make a change.
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if you think things are just fine, things are okay here in new jersey and across the land, well, then you'll choose my apoint again. but if you think that unemployment doubling under his watch, the deficit is quadrupling, our national debt doubling is unacceptable, then you're going to make a change and you'll choose me. i believe in america and i believe that we can do better. >> good evening and thank you to our debate spon source and i'm pleased to be here. my wife -- my life has taught me who i stand up to in the united states senate. not many senators group up in the tenant but i did. my family fought thoord get us in the middle class which is
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why i fight hard for jobs here in new jersey and make sure that women get equal pay for equal work. i testified against a local corrupt official and that's why i wasn't afraid to stand up to big banks or wall street. my sister and i carried for our mother until we lost her toals himers. that's why i fought against insurance companies that for preexisting conditions. without the belief that one teacher had in me and pell grants i wouldn't be standing here before you today. that's why i fought for funding for thousands of teachers to stay in the classroom teaching our kids and make sure college is more affordable by expanding pell grants and making sure loan enter rates were low.
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i am like many of the people in new jersey who work hard every day. but the middle class is under attack and that's why i fight back in the united states senate to create good jobs, good healthcare, a quality education and a retirement we all deserve. >> when all is said and done, your campaign seemed to have slid into a familiar floyd which is you're portraying your opponents in ways we have heard time and time again. you're portrayed as a friend of the rich as somebody who will make middle class pay more because the rich shouldn't have any sort of implications of their taxes changes. >> you are portrayed as a techs and spend liberal. tell me specifically what one thing about your opponent makes him less qualified than you to
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serve in the u.s. senate. >> you go first. >> well he mentions the middle class, he mentioned it tonight. he does it fairly often. but the middle class is not doing very well at all. we've got to do better. and so i read the pless -- press releases that you put out and i've heard your opening statement, but i don't hear any action items about how we're going to do it better. and so i've got a plan. i know that if we do what we've been doing, more of the same, well, we'll have the same outcome and that's unacceptable for the people of new jersey and unacceptable for america. so let's do some things differently. if you're way worked, well, we wouldn't have 43 straight
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months of 8% plus unemployment. let's get the job done. >> my opponent would take us back to the very policies that got us into this mess in the first place. that's the biggest disequal fier. when he had an opportunity he voted against raising the minimum raise and voted for tax breaks for the millionaires. he cut funding for education that led to classroom teachers being left out of their classroom. when he had a chance to stand up for women in our state and vote for equal pay for equal work, he walked out, didn't cast a vote. when he had an opportunity to vote for women in terms of their healthcare, not once, not twice, but six times he voted against women's healthcare in our state. i brought millions of dollars to help those women be able to get healthcare. so when i listen to his jobs program which is basically a rehash of taxes for the
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wealthiest people in the country. that didn't drive us to jobs creation we want to see. we've been through that picture before and it's failed and that's why we can't go back to it. >> the subject of medicare fee chured last night in the bedate -- debate. governor romney talked about a voucher program. president obama's affordable care act doesn't offer a long-term fix to medicare. so what is your plan to keep medicare solid while not forcing seniors to fend for themselves? >> for me, medicare is not an es ter rick debate. my mom who worked in the factries of new jersey who worked hard to get us in the middle class. she was fighting alzheimer's,
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medicare was her healthcare security. that's why under the affordable carry act we extended the life of medicare until 2024 and thotes why we will continue to work to look at various proposals that will continue to extend the life of medicare. some of what we did is beginning to eliminate the waste fraud and abuse. that's part of how we extended medicare by stopping overpayments to insurance companies. and also -- i don't know that bill gates need medicare. so maybe we have to look at what type of means testing should be considered to ensure that the life of the program continues to expand. but we've already worked to insure its expansion. >> we can't strengthen medicare until our members of congress and other leaders admit that
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there's a problem. as i watch the congress in action, i get the sense that they're not sure there is a real issue at hand. they talk a lot about it but they don't really do anything about it. so the first thing we need to do is be honest, point out the pit fauls, point out the future and make real change and for people my age and up, i'm 52 years old, these days, those are just fine. but for my children and for grandchildren of seniors today and their concern about their grandchildren, we're going to have to do some things differently. so let's work together, look at all the factors and not look at this from a point of view of ideology or partisan zip, patriot act caltty, this is a
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math problem and we need to fix it. >> our next question. >> as part of your campaign you pledge to work to reduce taxes for all americans by 20%. if reducing income taxes is your goal, how would you propose to tackle our $16 april i don't know debt. and what are the programs you would cut besides public funding for television as proposed by governor romney last nilingt and whether these cuts are politically feasible. >> we're going to have to raise revenue and i want to do it through growth. i want to lower tax rates. i want to make sure we have the lower rates for everybody.
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my opponent supports the plan to increase the rates for everybody beginning in january. he doesn't need to vote on it. he doesn't have to -- it doesn't have to be considered. this is not a theory, this is on schedule. so when that happens, you can be sure that we're going to lose jobs. we're going to stunt the economy. and so the debt problem of our country is a severe one, it is at a crisis point. we need to grow revenue and we need to look at spending and we need to look at everything through a prism of what do we need? what can we afford which we may want and what we want but really can't afford? so we're going to have to look at this in a careful and honest way unlike the way we've been doing it. >> i'd like to lower corporate
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rates too but you have to offset it by closing tax loopholes. and we've seen plans in the past continue those loopholes. if we're going to lower everybody's rate as he would like, that means he has money to the pressure treasury so it has to come from somewhere. i led the fight in the senate to end $24 billion in tax brakes to the companies that will make a trillion dollars in profits over the next ten years. we can ultimately use that money for debt reduction. i don't think we should be spending $6 billion in subssi dis. i don't think we need to use offshore tax havens as mitt romney uses. we're not talking about raising anybody's taxes. there is a lot in the code that
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should be closed. so i think those are concrete examples of how you move in that direction. >> we have a pretaped question. >> while so many people in the suburb towns think that people already get too much of the funding pie, what initiatives would you put in place to make sure that jobs are created in the inner cities like new york and jersey city? >> i'm proud of a lot of the initiatives we've helped for the you shallen areas in our state. the reality is transit villages, we're insent fying with the transportation bill is an opportunity to do that. i'm glad to see that new jersey will receive the highest rate of transit funding in the state's history.
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an additional $70 million more. that will create about 52,000 jobs. a lot of those transit villages and opportunities are in urban areas. livable communities, my legislation in that regard would help communities that are not only urban but suburban would be able to dreat greater opportunity as well. so we're going to continue to work with these community tiss so that in fact they can help the future of their citizens. >> as i move around the cities of new jersey, i'm so sad to see the poverty, to see the unemployment, to see that things haven't gotten better, that our national economy is such that it's even worse in the cities of new jersey, once
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a great thriving place. i worked hard in my career in the senate to fight for jobs and economic development, for specific economic development programs. and now many of those incentive programs targeted to the urban areas of our state and many successes as well. i want to improve our schools in new jersey cities as well. twopet have some new reforms, the kind of which he doesn't want to support. the opportunity scholarship act, the parent trigger law that i'm response soring so parents can get ahold of failing schools is a lot to do. >> the next question. >> senator tur chairman of the republican state committee.
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you were head of the caucus. these are jobs you didn't get without being a reliable member of the party. we have the most partisan congress ever and its approval rating is 13%. what will you do to break the gridlock, will you go against your party and try to find a solution on things like the budget deficit? >> i've been a refompler my whole career including when i was state chairman. i tried to project myself as a voice for all the people when they didn't agree with the incumbent governor at the time, not just for republican activists but for everybody. and this is one of the big els style differences between us. bob is very rigid, very i had logical, i want to work with
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everybody. i want to work with republicans, i want to work with democrats. i want to work with independents, i want to work with whoever the president is, president romney or president obama. the problem with washington sit doesn't match the greatness of the people. these guys don't get the job done and i'm going to go down there and get it done. >> first of all, i have reached out to the other side and that's how i've had some of my greatest successes. knowledge new jersey has the greatest rate of autism in the nation. we passed the oughttism act which is critical for those families. i joined with the republican senator from illinois and we passed the most crippling sanctions by one cun trip against another and got a 100
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to 0 vote in the senate, something you don't see often. working with the chair of the housing subsidy committee, we passed doubling housing for the disabled in this country. those are three examples i can give where i have worked with republican senators on the other side. his record is 90% of his votes are in line with his party in the state legislature. and effort his colleagues want to seek an override, he has never found an opportunity to join them and say no i disagree with the front office. >> your colleague and governor christy seem to snipe at each other all the time. you seem to have a chellie relationship with governor christy when he was u.s. attorney, an investigation that
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went nowhere. the governor just this week called joe his best friend in the legislature. might the state be better off with two christy enmisin the u.s. senate, one enemy and one friend? >> i disagree with you when you characterize me as an enemy of the governor. if i was an enemy i wouldn't have got the biggest pool, the new jersey act in the nation. his administration asked me to help him get a good deal with the department of human services, i did. . if we were enmisi wouldn't have been able to achieve greater amounts of money for the transportations in new jersey. i wouldn't have joined him and advocated with him with all those disaster we got to send
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money to new jersey to help new jersey residents. so i have a professional relationship with the governor. but really the question is who will go to the senate and stand up to those special interest and stand up for middle class families? joe continues to vote against middle class families in new jersey. i stand up for them in washington. >> i want to go back to transportation. the future of amtrak has become -- a poll jies. your response please. >> i'm waiting to see some real good evidence of the middle class doing well under your watch, bob. and the things you cite with regard to your work with the
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governor and state government, those are things you should do. that's part of the job description of being a united states senator. those aren't special. we're talking about the ability to communicate with the governor, with the rest of the congressional delegation, with other members of congress from around the country to produce positive outcomes. and when i talk to people, what i hear is there is no real evidence of it. people around the state know me. they know i have a very different style and that's what we need in washington right now. these guys don't get things done. now i'm proud of governor christy. i think he's doing a really good job. we see things often, if not most of the time, the same way. but we're different people, we have different styles but we both have the best interest of the state at heart. >> this will be a surprise but i'm going to go to
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transportation. the future of amtrak has still been a political football between democrats and republicans and between representatives from rural areas versus urban areas. is the future of amtrak tied to public private partnerships and would you support the privatization of the northeast corridor? >> i love taking the amtrak down to washington d.c. i hope to do it a lot more by the way starting in january. and i don't want to jeopardize that. i want to make sure that we get the job done. we want to fight for our share of dollars here in the northeast. it's very very important. and i'm going to be a champion in that regard. if there is a partnership that makes sense, i'm open to listening to it. if we can private ties and
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ensure qualify and gets the job done and fares are reasonable and people can move from boston to new york to washington, let's take a look at it. let's not dig our heels into some corner. let's understand the realities, what is at stake for amtrak and for everything. i'm about making things work. >> i hope you're going to come visit me a lot on amtrak and we'll welcome you to our office and give you a capitol tour. on amtrak here is the reality. this is important to inner city passenger rail travel. it is important for commerce and businesses to be able to send their sales forces throughout the entire northeast corridor. it's important for our citizens who want to go to a hospital who want to go to a hospital and need

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